Celebrating the Mothers Who Show Up Every Day

If we're lucky, Mother’s Day is often filled with flowers, cards, and breakfast in bed. It’s a day of celebration, appreciation, and love. But for mothers of children with additional or complex needs, I think that today carries a different weight. It’s a day to reflect on the strength it takes to show up, day after day, through exhaustion, uncertainty, and challenges that many don’t see or understand.

Parenting is hard. Parenting a child with complex needs is something else entirely. It’s advocating in every space you enter. It’s learning medical jargon you never wanted to know. It’s navigating therapies, appointments, and sleepless nights. It’s being the one who holds everything together when you’re barely holding on yourself. And the hardest part? We don’t always talk about it.

We put on a brave face. We say, “I’m fine” when we’re not. We smile through the tough moments because admitting the truth feels too heavy, too raw. But the reality is, some days, I just want to curl up in a ball and hide from it all. I want a moment where the weight isn’t so crushing, where the mental and emotional exhaustion doesn’t feel like it might swallow me whole.

But mothers like us don’t get that option. We keep going. We keep showing up because our children need us to. And so today, on Mother’s Day, I want to take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate the mothers who push through the hard days, the ones who show up when it feels impossible, and the ones who hold on even when they don’t know how they’re doing it.

To every mother raising a child with additional needs: you are seen, you are valued, and you are stronger than you realise. Today, I celebrate you. Not just for the love you give, but for the strength you show. Because showing up, even on the hardest days, is the greatest act of love there is.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the warriors, the advocates, the caregivers, and the mums who keep going, no matter what. You are incredible.