Moms confess: The worst gift I’ve ever been given (and the one I’d most like to receive) for Mother’s Day

Where does the tradition of celebrating mom come from? Without googling. You know? Well, here’s a little fact to contribute to Sunday’s conversation. Mother’s Day has its origins in ancient Greece when Rhea, mother of all the gods and daughter of none other than Gea, Gaya or Gaia — as she is also called — Mother Earth, was celebrated with rituals and gifts.

In the most earthly world, the party has for its founder Anna Jarvis , the women’s labor rights activist, who in 1905 launched a campaign to celebrate her mother and make a day a legal holiday so that all mothers could rest and be recognized. After several years of fighting and sending letters to the United States Congress, he achieved his goal in 1911.

Yet Jarvis herself was the first to oppose the commercial turn her creation quickly took, even protesting against florists who raised their prices when the date in question arrived.

Then there is the saying “There is only one mother”, which although very profound and beautiful, true from the point of view of the Self, is not statistically correct: the truth is that there has millions of mothers and they are all very different from each other. other.

To check this, we took a relatively large sample of moms and asked them two questions: What’s the worst Mother’s Day gift you’ve ever received? What would you like to receive this year? The two doubts – although the first with playful curiosity – and their answers seek to be a guide so that you, daughter/son/partner, who see how Sunday May 8 is approaching and do not know with what to arrive, can save from good idea and not repeat a bad one.

Although you could also play the Anna Jarvis card, and say that the creator of the celebration was against her materialistic character.

“It’s hard to choose a worse gift because my children are young and I consider every gift they give me beautiful,” says Pilar, a mother of two in Viñamarina. “But once someone gave me a giant papier-mâché painting with a bunch of light bulbs, cut-out plastic cups, and lots of random buttons stuck on with silicone. Supposedly, it was a vase with flowers, but he ended up being a cachureo who later gives the conscience charge to throw away.

What would Pilar like to receive? “Maybe it goes against the times, but my dreams right now are very much like those of a housewife. I would like a robot vacuum. I like them too lots of hoops from the Formas AG store ”.

“The worst gift was once I was given a cookbook. It was weird because even though it was very cute and with cool illustrations, my feeling was anger and it lasted a long time The explanation was even worse: they told me it was to increase my cooking skills, because I always cook the same thing, so it was actually more of a criticism than a gift!” Antonia de Talca, also mother of 2 children.

“More than something material, I would like to be offered a stay at the Hotel Parador de Vichuquen . Two days. Let them massage me, sleep a lot, read quietly, etc. I love this lake and the signal is terrible so I wouldn’t even look at my cell phone. I would like it very much”

“If it comes to asking, I would also like some leather boots which I find beautiful, but could never bear the guilt of spending so much on them.

“The worst gift I received was candles. I didn’t understand. What are they for? I found it excruciating as hell,” says Paulina, mother of a daughter from south Punta Arenas.

“If I could choose a gift, I think I would like to be able to choose between a gym membership or a weekend at the hotel spa (here it would have to be the Dreams of Punta Arenas )”.

“So far for Mother’s Day, I have only received letters from my daughter. I think that says it all,” laughs Isabel of the Windy Pichilemu. “Although I cherish them and they are all saved, of course.”

“With the pandemic, I left the city and continued to work remotely from the beach,” he says. “I was in trouble when they asked for a face-to-face comeback, but I decided to quit and not come back.” Since then, Isabel has devoted herself to cooking and selling what she prepares. “I’m alone in there, so they don’t give me a lot of time. Having a food processor would mean being able to maximize production and reduce hours, devoting more time during the day to my daughter and myself”.

From Valparaíso, where she is raising three children, Magdalena believes that the worst gift “is chocolate with a low percentage of cocoa. Even more if it contains almonds! I shouldn’t be the one to strategically put them away and give them away.”

“Instead, a great gift would be tickets to see the play space invaders in the theatre. For the gift to be complete, it would obviously have to include a nanny. Nona Fernández’s book is very good, I enjoyed it very much, and the best thing about going back to face-to-face attendance was being able to go back to the theatre, the most stimulating live performance”.

“It’s very personal, but for me the worst gifts are chocolates or sweets,” says Andrea, a mother of two from the capital. “On the one hand, I’m not very nice, and on the other, I’m very practical, I like useful things. Chocolate is a gift that disappears quickly and I’ve always considered it a kind of joker to get me out of trouble.

“If I could ask for a gift, it would be subscription to the premium annual plan of vsco ($19.99, something like 17 thousand pesos). It is an app for android and iOS which allows you to edit photos and videos. It’s awesome, and in just a few steps you can edit images to have your own style. The best thing is that you can save your preferences so that all your photos have your style.

“Another thing that I would find great would be Olaplex #3, the best hair treatment I’ve ever tried. For those of us who dye our hair with colors and want to take care of it, this is the perfect product.

“Once they gave me a sandwich. It was a real disappointment to see something that was actually for the whole house and not just me. I found it. Also, honestly, I’m the one who uses it the least in the house,” says a disappointed Daniela, a mother of 3 blessings who lives in Reñaca.

“This Mother’s Day I would like to receive something meaningful that I can always take with me. The idea would be for it to be something unique, special and lasting. I recently saw a beautiful bracelet of a mother and her son in a handmade jewelry store called Montserrat Maluk . It would be a great gift,” he says.

“The worst gift I ever received was a box of chocolates: I’m lactose intolerant,” says Francisca, who lives in Santiago and is a mother of a baby. “The gesture was still cute I guess, but of course I didn’t even try them on.”

“I have several friends who have tried kangatraining with their babies.” Kangaque? “It’s a type of training that combines physical activity and carrying the baby. I like that we move from giving material objects to giving experiences. beneficial to health is even better.

“I am the mother of two beautiful daughters, one recently started university and the other is already independent. I have a lot of experience with Mother’s Day gifts in the body, and I’m grateful every year for the creams, handbags, slippers, and all the little things that come my way. The ones I didn’t like, like household items, I thank them too,” says Paula, peacefully from Santiago.

“Over time, I discovered that I wanted to take advantage of Mother’s Day as an appointment to share with my daughters and to be able to try things. The other day, I was talking about it with the older ones and we started looking for ideas on the Internet. There we discovered Housebar, a store with a wide range of liquors and a fresh and innovative cocktail bar. We went there and I loved the Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey and also the Apple, which may become our new favorite drink to share with my daughters”.

“I couldn’t say I’ve had a worse gift, because my son is very creative and always surprises me with beautiful things. But I would appreciate one day, maybe when I grow up and work, if he gives me something that is for me and that I can enjoy,” enthused Nicole, who lives in Los Angeles.

“I would like something like a night at Hotel Casa Primal a ticket to Primavera Sound or, finally, a massage with acupuncture session”.

*Prices for products in this item are current as of April 27, 2022. Values ​​and availability may change.