The annual celebration of Mother's Day is here, but celebrations honoring mothers date back thousands of years. Ancient rites celebrating goddesses and symbols of motherhood were present in Egyptian, Roman and Greek society, and were carried to Europe by various armies. England began celebrating individual moms with Mothering Day in the 16-hundreds, but settlers in America abandoned that practice for many years. The return of Mother's Day in America began with a push in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe, writer of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." After years of unofficial recognition, President Woodrow Wilson made Mother's Day an official U.S. holiday in 1914.
If mom received a salary, she'd be receiving executive level pay. The annual Salary.com estimate of what a mother who didn't work outside the home would be paid puts the value of all she does at nearly 119-thousand dollars. The estimate sets mom's hours caring for the home and children at just under 100 per week, with 57 of those hours being paid at overtime rates.
