When it comes to celebrating Mother's Day, husbands come in three varieties. There's the "Oh, it's today?" type who dashes out for a gift card on the day of; the play-it-safe guy who opts for the flowers, candy, and maybe a dinner out; and the best husbands who do Mother's Day right by really thinking about what would make their wives feel cherished.
There's a Berenstain Bears book about Mother's Day that I've always found infuriating beyond belief. True, Papa Bear and the cubs serve Mama her favorite breakfast in bed as a surprise. But (WTH?) Mama has to do all the legwork beforehand: "She had a lot to do if her family's Mother's Day surprise was going to be a success." So she scrapes the caked-on goo from the bed tray and fetches all the ingredients for her special honeyed French toast (which involves trips to the supermarket, farm and Grandma's house, thank you). Why isn't Dad the one running to Trader Grizzly's or wherever? Then comes the real "surprise" at the end: When Mama goes to clean up the kitchen, she's amazed to find that Papa and the kids have done it already. Why should she even have to doubt that they would? And of course, no one says, Hey, Ma, thanks for knocking yourself out for three days so that we could give you two pieces of toast and a cup of tea.
Give Papa Bear credit for making the effort. But the best husbands know that making Mother's Day a success takes a little extra time and thought... with no work on Mom's part. Here are the ways we hope our guys will show their love on this special May day: