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The day to celebrate mother’s is over.

I am so glad Mother’s Day was started by a Kentucky lady to honor her mother. It is a day that needed to have been celebrated.

From what I have observed, most mothers need to be celebrated. They are the ones who are up with their babies and sick children. They worry about their children daily.

I agree with the saying, “A mother’s work is never done.” The larger the family, the harder Mom works.

I often think of when I was a child, and no matter how my mom felt, she always made it into the kitchen to make hot biscuits for her children for breakfast. We would finish up breakfast after we got older because she had to leave for work, but I can never remember a morning she did not have biscuits made for us to cook.

I appreciate my mom for teaching us how to take care of ourselves — how to cook, how to keep the house clean and respect for ourselves.

She taught us that we were as good as anyone else, and to not let anyone put us down.

When she was able, she never missed a PTA meeting and took interest in us at school.

She made sure we knew about God, and we had family devotionals at night while I was growing up.

Of course, I could go on and on about my mom. She made our house a home, and when she was in the hospital, nothing seemed right until she could get home.

Without Mommy in the house, most homes feel empty. My mom was in the hospital a lot, and I still remember that empty feeling without her.

Jody Picoult said these two quotes about her mom, and both brought back memories of my own mom.

One was “My mother, she is beautiful, softened at the edges and tempered with a spine of steel.” Though my mom’s spine was operated on three times, she was the toughest woman I ever knew when it came to her kids.

The other quote goes, “The best place to cry is in a mother’s arms.” I think most people will agree. When you felt heartbroken, you just wanted your Mommy’s arms to cry into.

My mom taught me to be a mom. She inspired me to be better, and I tried to do that same thing with my children. I must have done a decent job with my daughters because they are great moms to my grandchildren.

I had a wonderful Mother’s Day with a meal prepared by my daughter, Shanda. She and Andy are great hosts. I heard from my daughter, Kim; our son, Keith, and our daughter, Erica, to make my day complete.

My husband, Eric, always surprises me on special days, and I felt very blessed and loved.

I know not everyone may feel as blessed as I do, but I do know this: every mother can be a good mother. It is up to her.

I feel special every day by being a mother. I am so happy I was blessed to be a mother. I take it as an honor and my greatest accomplishment in life.

It appalls and amazes me when I hear of children who have been abused by their mothers and fathers. Just this morning I heard of a father who had locked his children as young as two in the basement in filthy conditions. I am both angry and heartbroken when I hear things like that.

I am appealing to everyone to try to keep these situations from happening. If you see or hear children being cursed at in Walmart or public places, pay attention, and if you can, report it. If they are doing that in public, can you imagine what is happening at home?

If you see moms all wrapped up in warm clothes while their children are half dressed or nothing on to keep them warm, that is abuse to me. In Winchester, there is no reason for kids to not be properly dressed with all the places such as CC’s Closet and other shelters where clothes can be obtained.

Someone alerted someone to do a welfare check on those kids this morning, or who knows what could have happened?

Children do not need to be talked to or treated like animals.

You hear and read more and more of kids living in filth with animals and feces all over the house with dried food and nasty dishes everywhere.

I hope that if parents have ever been caught with child abuse and nasty houses, they are dropped in on by authorities often to make sure it is not happening again.

Kids need to be taught to do their share of chores, and if they do not see Momma working or teaching them to work, they will probably turn out lazy also.

When a child is too embarrassed to bring someone home from school with them, then something cannot be right in a home. Parents, you know why and what makes this true.

Be good parents, and above all, mothers be good mothers.

I do not know who said this quote, but it is one I believe: “A mother understands what a kid doesn’t say.”

If you know your kids very well, you learn to read them to a degree. A good mother-child bond is hard to break if the mother has been a good mother throughout the child’s life.

You were given motherhood as a gift, so cherish it.

Sue Staton is a Clark County native. She is a wife, mother and grandmother who is active in her church, First United Methodist Church, and her homemakers group, Towne and Country Homemakers.