“Gardening is what I love to do, so that is how I’m going to spend Mother’s Day,” said Emily Wehner, 30, whose husband plans to remove their two children, who are under the age of 4, from the home for at least several hours. Normally when she gardens, “the kids are running around, which means my brain is split.”
Ms. Wehner, a photographer who lives in Indianapolis, has been preparing for the big day, growing seeds in her house, for the last six weeks. “I am so excited. You will see me out there even if it rains.”
Other mothers feel the only way to get peace and quiet is to leave the house.
“I’m going shopping,” said Khloe Kuriatnyk, 30, a content creator who has an 8-year-old, 4-year-old and 5-month-old, who made the TikToks that inspired Ms. Christoff. (Granted, she’s also running a 5k earlier in the day — with her children.) “I’ve seen these summer dresses at Free People all over Instagram, and I’ve been thinking about them nonstop.”
Valerie Cooley, a stay-at-home mother on the Upper East Side of Manhattan who has three children, ages 11, 9 and 4, has spent the last three Mother’s Day weekends at a hotel alone.
“The rule is my family doesn’t bother me,” Ms. Cooley, 46, said. “Whatever it is, they are going to figure it out on their own.” With that time she typically takes a dance class, orders room service and sees a Broadway show.
It’s a decision she feels is against the grain. “My mother is always kind of like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe you choose this,’” she said.