Mothers Day.

I'll put my cards on the table - I have mixed feelings about Mothers' Day.

It's not just the commercialisation. Of  course I like getting presents - who doesn't? Though I'm not so sure about the rows of cards, the inflated price of flowers, the restaurants offering special puddings. Nor the glittery offerings that children bring home from schools and playgroups (actually, those are rather sweet).

No - what I struggle with is the idea that, just once a year, we can notice how special mothers are.

They are special not just because they cook and clean and bottle-wash, nor because they get up in the night to nurse teething babies, or sit with the recalcitrant teenager struggling with her maths homework. Nor just because many of them work their socks off earning money as well as doing all these motherly things at home.

Do we really need a day to say thank you for all that? The implication being that mothers can be generally ignored, left to get on with being motherly, for the rest of the year. Without a thank you, or an occasional bunch of flowers, or chocolate treat.

We are all special, in our way. Every passing act of generosity needs a thank you - every day. Not just once a year.

And now I'll duck behind the sofa, as I expect a lot of you will disagree with me.