iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — It was Allison Eric’s second Mother’s Day with her husband and wonderful toddler, but the day didn’t go as she had hoped because her husband didn’t have anything planned for her.
“My husband for who knows why choose to do nothing,” she told “Good Morning America.” “No card, present, nothing. He then proceeded to show me links on the iPad to a crock pot that he was thinking of getting me but then decided against it. Worst Mother’s Day ever. I spent half the day crying. All I wanted was for my 18-month-old to scribble on a paper and hand it to me.”
She went on to note that despite it all she had “another child with him.”
Kate Hardy, who penned a viral article called “This Mother’s Day, Just Brunch Me In The F****g Face,” which was shared widely last year regarding the unique torture of fancy brunch with small children brings and has a podcast called Nursing and Cursing told “GMA” her advice is simple: “I think Mother’s Day is wonderfully symbolic of motherhood in general. The lower your expectations of your kids, your partner, and yourself, the greater your happiness will be.”
Stories like these are not uncommon. Author and love expert Diann Valentine of the show “To Rome for Love,” told “GMA,” the issue hits close to home.
“I used to be terribly disappointed with my husband when Mother’s Day would roll around, and I would not wake up to an overflow of gifts,” she said. “It took me a while to understand who he is. One of the biggest mistakes that women make is that we expect our husbands to be mind readers and men just are not wired the way that we as women are. A gift that is less than the desired gift you longed for is not necessarily an indication of his lack of adoration for you.”
Valentine shared four tips to ensure you have a fabulous Mother’s Day:
1. “If you have a personal shopper at one of your favorite stores, pick out a few items that you love and then give her/him your husband’s information so they can contact him on your behalf and share some of the things you have had your eye on,” she said.
2. “Pick out a few places that you would like to go to celebrate Mother’s Day and make a reservation at all of them and then send them to your husband as possible suggestions for a great time,” she noted.
3. “Print out photos of some of your favorite things and then give them to your child or children to share with daddy,” Valentine said. “Kids are always so honest so they will be sure to let him know how important your Mother’s Day gift is.”
4. “Buy your own gift. I know that might sound less special but I tried this one year out of frustration and my gift was quite pricey. And I shared that it was my own Mother’s Day gift to myself,” she said. “My husband didn’t complain but that was the last gift I had to buy for myself.”Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.