Mom's role is changing in America

Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia is the "mother" of Mother's Day, who requested a special church service in 1908 to honor her mother, who, when Anna was a small child, often remarked that, while there were many days dedicated to men, none were set apart to honor mothers.

Two years after her mother's death, Jarvis and friends began a letter-writing campaign to declare a national observance, which Congress did in 1914.

The second Sunday in May, Mother's Day is a good day to honor Mom, and reflect on all she means to us.

There are an estimated 82.5 million mothers in the united states, but their roles have changed over the years, as outlined by the Census Bureau.

* 82 percent of women, age 40-44, are mothers today. In 1976, 90 percent of them were.

* Only about 10 percent of women today end their childbearing years with four or more children. Back in the United States' bicentennial year, that portion stood at 36 percent. And, the average woman today can expect to have only two children in her lifetime. Mothers in Alaska and Utah, however, are more likely to have three children.

* 68 percent of women in Mississippi, ages 15-44, are mothers, the highest state, compared to a national average of 56 percent.

* Of the 4 million women who have babies each year, about 425,000 are teens ages 15-19, and more than 100,000 are ago 40 or over.

* The average woman is 25.1 years old when she has her first child, nearly 4 years older than in 1970.

* August is the most popular month in which to have a baby, with 359,000 births taking place that month in 2002. July had nearly as many, with 358,000.

* Tuesday is the most popular day of the week in which to have a baby, with about 13,000 births taking place on Tuesdays in 2002.

* Some 55 percent of mothers in the labor force had infant children in 2002, but that was down from a record 59 percent in 1998. This was the first significant decline in the rate since the Census Bureau began calculating the measure in 1976. That year, 31 percent of mothers with infants were at work.

* More than 10 million preschoolers are cared for primarily in a daycare center during their mother's working hours, and there were more than 67,000 daycare centers across the country in 2001.

Yes, Mom's role is changing, and the numbers prove it. To prove our love for her, why not buy her some flowers? According to the Census Bureau, 23,870 florists, employing 125,116 people nationwide, will provide more than $410 million worth of the fragrant gifts (in the 36 states surveyed), most of them from California or Colombia.