Forget the Choccies and the Flowers

Forget the Choccies and the Flowers
A thank you will suffice…

Did you know that Mothers Day is, in Australia, the second biggest day for the retail industry after Christmas? It's become such a total commercial enterprise, that you'd be forgiven for thinking that the spirit of Mothers Day was all but gone.

However, forget the chocolates, cancel the chrysanthemums and don't worry about a card. Australian mums say a simple ‘thank you' is the best gift they could have received on Mother's Day.

Procter & Gamble (P&G), makers of family brands like Gillette, Pantene, Oral-B and Vicks, recently ran a survey into our attitude to gratitude, as part of their P&G Thank You Mum campaign that honours the mums of the London 2012 Olympians. They survey found that we don't need to spend a lot to please our mums - simple words of thanks are more than enough, with Australian mums, preferring a few words over flowers, clothing, jewellery, restaurant meals, help around the house or even holidays.

Did You Get A Thank You This Mothers Day?

According to the survey we're a slack bunch in the thanks department. A whopping 20% of Aussies could not even remember the last time they thanked their mum and only 13% thank their mum daily.

What the survey found:

Australian respondents are most likely to express their gratitude to their mum just once a week. Despite this, 77% agree that their mum has made many sacrifices for them and 78% say they have a close relationship with their mum.
It seems we have good intentions though: 68% of Australian respondents think mums deserve to be thanked every day. It's just that we don't seem to get around to it.
Half of Australian respondents reported giving mum ‘something she likes' such as flowers, new clothes or jewelery as the best thing for Mother's Day, but only 22% of mums said they actually wanted to receive this.
Of the respondents who are mums, 69% said being a mum makes them appreciate what their own mum did for them more now as a result.
Mums deserve our thanks: 63% of those respondents who are mums say that it is difficult to be a mum. The number one sacrifice they say they have made in being a mum is not being able to buy things for themselves, followed by no longer being able to choose holiday destinations they would personally prefer to go to. A lack of social life was a sacrifice made by 47% of mums.

According to celebrity mum of two Rachael Beck, a simple thank you can make all the difference. "I agree with those surveyed as part of the P&G Attitude to Gratitude study. Being a mum is tough, especially if you're juggling work and family life. As mums we care for our children without any expectations. But a little thank you and a sweet smile makes it all worthwhile".