Are you allowed to divorce your son? :-)

Do you really need a little note to tell you they love you at 42, Suedomin???
At least he remembered to ring and tell you what he was doing and didn't just leave you to wonder why you didn't get one, I agree it's just more commercialisation and not that many men are good at buying cards and little trinkets I wouldn't sweat over it at all

I love the homemade cards made with odds and ends and lots of glitter made by my DD she is after all only 30 years old. Sons will not even know it is Mothers day unless DD reminds them but i do keep cards that they made when the were little and still put them up as its the only chance of a card from them. I insist on a joint mothers day/Birthday flowers and present as 2 lots i one month is too expensive.
yggdrasil inform your DS that this year you have cancelled his Birthday and Christmas is on hold.

My son sent a card and some posh biscuits-eaten them already!

No, you don't need a note from an adult son but if he wanted to show his appreciation without buying a card, that's one way it could be done. I can't think that it is ever wrong to make a kind gesture.

Being free of all expectation is truly liberating. If your son is a kind, considerate son most of the time, I'm guessing your post is tongue in cheek. If he's not like this and his role of son leaves a lot to be desired, I'd snip the umbilical and start breeding a harvest elsewhere. By harvest I mean, sowing seeds of good into a pot where others really feel your input. All us mothers want is to be able to nurture and care with the smallest of satisfaction that we did a good job coming back to us.

I could have written this post! For Christmas I received from DS a power washer (which I have always maintained shifts the moss/muck/weeds to another place where it grows more strongly). Yes DS built the patio (2 years ago) but never finished it by sealing, leveling the lawn etc etc.

Today (Friday) I received flowers for Mother's Day which I struggle to place because his children live here part of the week and all surfaces and floor is covered with their 'stuff'! I also received a bottle of Baileys ( I am trying to cut down on alcohol). Why today? He has football tomorrow and wants to play golf on Sunday! Sorry but yes he is just like his father (my ex for obvious reasons!)

Maybe other two DSs will oblige. Oh no! One of them is playing golf with his brother!

By the way I do think Mother's Day is a rip off commercially but I would love a genuine gesture.

Wow that takes some meanness not even a card,

I totally agree all these occasions get runed by commercial hype.

My ds never forgets since his sister cutmus off.

I did just ask for nice card as he moving in June they need every penny but he ignored me and flowers due Sunday deep down I am pleased!
However my dh is kind and thoughtful so reckon he gets it from him,

My ed was wonderful tooo never forgot ever and always made supreme effort once coming home from uninas suprise ?. Wonder if she thinks of me now?

Well he's doing better than my 40 yr old son, who most times doesn't even remember to phone or text. I am afraid it's a lottery whose genes create their brains (and that's quite apart from any upbringing errors we might make), and we don't often get exactly the child we would have liked. But still unless he is actually attacking your or stealing from you it's probably better to have the relationship than not have it at all.

My son and I have spent half of his adult life not speaking because he speaks his mind frequently but cannot take any kind of criticism. Always me that offers the olive branch because he is never at fault. I blame myself because he was indulged growing up but maintains his sister was treated better than him. He is 48, single father of 1 acts like a petulant teenager. I will get a card and a present but I would rather have respect, a hug and not be made to feel I don't matter.

A few years ago, when my son was with a previous partner, they invited me to dinner on mothers day and I refused. I pointed out that the only other time they had invited me round was on my birthday 9 months earlier. I said that if they are only going to bother when they feel they must then don't bother at all. Son is now married to someone else and we have a great relationship now

My son has not sent me a card for anything since he was about 12 years old - my daughter does remember and, until he moved away from home, she used to sign it with his name as well although he never paid a penny towards the cost.
He now lives in the US with my d-i-l and has two kiddies. I get a message via the messages part of Facebook from him on my birthday just saying Happy Birthday but at least he has bothered - which is more than he did previously. I have started doing the same back although I do ensure his birthday money is with my d-i-l in good time. He doesn't remember Mother's Day or any other celebration but that is how he has always been.

I agree it is a commercial and have been a bit surprised at friends at work buying proper presents for their mums. I think the point is an opportunity for some communication. Always nice. I encourage mine to get that 29p card but write something proper on it that means something to both.
I do wish I had let my mum know what a great mum she'd been. One day it too late after they've gone.

I'm thinking it is probably past the time in the morning for our postman to call! Never mind, we'll do our duty and take a card and gift for MIL tomorrow

I suppose he thought he was being thoughtful in explaining his reasons for not giving you a card - otherwise you would think he'd forgotten or didn't care.

Whilst I agree that Mothers Day is a rip-off, along with many other occasions that have been hijacked by big business, I still observe it for my own Mum because she would be upset if I didn't.

My daughter no longer gives me a card/present because she too has arrived at the conclusion that it is a rip-off. Because I know this is her reasoning and in any case she has several, probably justified, grievances about my parenting, I understand and accept it.

They were talking on the Wright Stuff about extremely rude Mothers Day cards. I agree - I'd rather not have a card than receive a vulgar one, although my son always gives me a funny card and I don't mind that at all.

Too commercialised as everything is now.......but hey, he rang, OK wrong day but if its the thought that counts, he thought of you.

Men are no always very good at this stuff and maybe the word would be happier if that atritude won out of the pressures put on us by advertisers.

I had a glorious gift from my kids this morning..........doesn't happen always, more often than not they are skint.......I can make that lovely memory last forever.

It is a traditional day and you can bet it wasn't celebrated with the deluge of cards and floral tribues back then, just a visit home maybe and a few spring flowers.

Keep it simple...........

We don't pay much attention to Mothering Sunday, Fathers' Day or Valentine's Day. DH &I might exchange a jokey card on Valentine's but do not make a big deal of the day. The DDs might call in with a card or notfor M /F day depending on how busy they are. We all know we love one another and care about each other and show it in all kinds of ways... not going to jeopardise that by getting in a grump over a card on a particular day! However the OPs son was a teeny bit thoughtless to articulate his thoughts

Far far too commercialised when you realise how mothers day first came about.Employers of a maid / manservant gave their servant a day off? (how kind of them!!)to visit their mother.
How many now never bother with their mum until they are blasted with tv adverts from the manufacturers of confectionery, cards and supermarkets with their flowers.
I tell my kids who are long distance but hardly a day goes by without a phone call or email to me that they don't need to do this. I would rather they spend it on their children when you realise how costly it is to bring up families these days.

As I have said on a previous post- I get cards & presents from younger son- bought & given to me by my DiL on the Friday when I pick the children from school. Very nice presents they are too but what I really want is to see him - 10 mins would do- on the day & get a hug. They live 15 mins away.
Since the DHC arrived they have always treated Mothering Sunday as Dil's day & I appreciate that it is that too- I only want 10 mins.
Other son - 30 mins away usually comes over with flowers but it is the hug I get that matters.

Maybe I should say that but I get on very well with DiL & don't want to upset her- especially as she lost her own Mum last year & this is only 2nd MS without her. It's not that important really I suppose- maybe I am just getting old & touchy.

Personally I've always considered my son's birthday to be Mother's Day. My DIL announced on Facebook that they were not doing any presents this year as last year family and friends' presents cost in the region of £1,500. They have a baby and a mortgage. Very sensible of them, and also very brave. I told them myself - no mother's day flowers please, but do bring me a card of some sort with a lot of lovely words as I can treasure it and it will outlive me. I know they love me. I take care of my granddaughter 2 days a week and she comes for a sleepover when mummy and daddy want a night out/time to be a couple. I am so lucky to be able to share her with them a little bit. For me it is a massive privilege to still be part of a family. Sod the flowers, chocolates and the rest of the useless stuff we feel obliged to buy for one another when a kiss and a hug would mean a whole lot more.

Spoke to my 38 year DS and 42 year DD today and they are coming for breakfast tomorrow without kids and spouses which will be nice - from DS "Can you do a big English Mum" !! . I think I will remind him of the days when tiny the two of them always made me breakfast in bed on Mothering Sunday ?

Thirty minutes ago the postlady came ... no card from my son. I was setting such store by this - not for the commercial aspect but for the fact it would have been a gesture to start communication again. I am totally bereft and have spent the last thirty minutes absolutely sobbing. I had really thought 'Mother's Day' would be a turning point. I haven't seen my grandson for months, and my daughter in USA isn't on speaking terms since before Christmas when I sent a coat for my youngest grand-daughter and she told me that I shouldn't send things as it makes her feel as if she can't look after the children without me. (It was actually a gesture of 'love' and to make up for the fact that I hardly ever see them.) I haven't spoken to her (or the children) since Christmas day when I had a very stilted conversation. I don't know how I'm going to get through tomorrow when I know there will be a lot of mums being shown how much they are loved. (I know some of you on here will think I'm crazy, setting such store by 'one day' - but it is (historically) the day when mothers were (are) remembered. (Had two visits to the doctor this week as just can't seem to ctop crying...) Sorry for all this blether, but just needed to 'tell someone'.... Very sad and utterly empty.

PS... I wouldn't have minded just a note written on a piece of paper - just 'something' ... 'anything'!!!

i always sent my mother flowers for mothering sunday [won't call it mothers day as that's an american invention] until she died early in 2007. as i used interflora [or whatever] i also posted a card to arrive the day before.
when my children were little and we went to church they would go up and get a bunch of flowers and present them to me but i didn't get cards or any other present as my now ex husband didn't "do" mothering sunday.
getting a card from my son these days is hit and miss - sometimes i get one and sometimes i don't [and i have had them sent to another address in my road too] but my daughter usually gives me a card and a little present.
i've organised my grandaughters to give my daughter a present again this year - they don't have any money of their own and it's not the sort of thing that they can ask their mum for money to get! we know she loves thorntons chocolates and that's what she'll get.
i've had nothing from my son in the post this morning and am wondering if there'll be anything from my daughter tomorrow but will wait and see.

Presume tomorrow facebook and snapchat will be full of 'cards' so I'll stay away from it.

I persuaded my mother that I would skip the commercial day as it has got ridiculous, it's also a christian festival and I'm not. What i did do was to send flowers on International Women's Day on March 8th, with luck some of them would last long enough to double up if she wanted that marker.

One of my brothers would have periods of time, sometimes months, when he wouldn't visit our parents, even though living very close. We never worked out why this was. On Mothering Sunday, however, he would always turn up with the biggest, over-the-top card, flowers. chocolates etc.
My own DD's are thoughtful all-year round, though they also mark the occasion. I've bought them a little gift this year as they are lovely mothers to my grandchildren.