A Mother's Day Message

May 6, 2005
By Susan Sachs - Common Sense Media
Six years ago I celebrated my first Mother’s Day. My daughter was not quite 2 months old. The C-section had healed, the hormones had subsided, and I was beginning to emerge from a fog of sleep deprivation. And then one day during a routine diaper change, two large eyes dancing about, grabbed my attention and stopped me dead in my tracks. Instantly the enormity of my responsibility hit me like a brick and the words of Abraham Lincoln echoed in my head: “All that I am and hope to be I owe to my angel mother.” This innocent impressionable young mind was mine to shape. Where would I begin? Compassion, knowledge, integrity, perception, social justice, good judgment -- the list seemed endless.
Now with 6 years of parenting under my belt it’s clear to me that despite my best efforts to pass on all of these worthy qualities, I ultimately wield only so much influence on the development of my child. Each year I see less and less of my daughter. In fact, someone else is starting to spend more time with her. And it’s not her teachers, or her coaches or her instructors. Someone else is seeping into our household almost without my knowledge -- spending an hour or more a day with her. Often without me. It’s the Other Parent -- the media in her life.