What will you do this Mother’s Day for the sweet mama in your life? As a parent working on mindfulness and striving to raise mindful tender saplings, I find this American holiday a great way to teach our little ones about honoring their mother. And I love the idea of trying to make our gestures more mindful and meaningful.

It’s traditional and appreciated for dad and the little ones to come through with flowers, homemade cards, and/or chocolates (like these fair trade bars from our Global Kids Gift Guide) for Mother’s Day. While these are all wonderful, how about adding one or more of these fun, thoughtful do-it-yourself ways to show you care?

(If you’re not big into celebrating Mother’s Day, a US holiday that falls on May 12 this year, or don’t have such a holiday in your country/culture, this is a nice opportunity for the kids to practice showing love and gratitude to their mother any day!)

1. Make her a breakfast parfait
Whether or not treating mama to breakfast is a tradition in your family already, these treats make for a healthy, beautiful, fun-to-assemble start to the morning. These are probably better than making her dandelion soup, but if she’s more of an experimentalist, go for it! If looking for another lovely touch, try heart-shaped watermelon slices we shared in this post.

2. Clean out her car
Send her off w/o her wheels for some mama-care time. Then grab the cleaning supplies and vacuum and get busy with the kids. If mama doesn’t have wheels, then think of an area of the home that she’d love to see cleaned up and make it shine. It could be as simple as having the kids clear the clutter off their dressers and dust.

3. Leave her love notes
Start with the nice clean car: use washable markers to leave her a message with hearts on the car window (tastefully done and not to obstruct her view of course). Then move on to post-it love notes and pictures in fun places: her shoes, her purse, the fridge, under her mug, etc.

4. Fold the laundry (and put it away!)
Unless you already have this service performed regularly by someone other than mama (dada and kids, a helper, or maybe a house elf), this will be a huge treat for her. And not just for Mother’s Day!

5. Extra hugs
One of the easiest and most mindful ways to show your love is to wrap all arms around mama and say how much she means to you. Dad can model this and the kids can follow. It’ll leave everyone smiling ’cause the song says it best: Love is like a magic penny, Hold it tight and you won’t have any, Lend it, Spend it, Give it away and it will come right back to you! What a great way to help mama recharge her batteries.

My wife wanted me to add that one of her favorite (early) Mother’s Day gifts this year, is this beautiful origami flower that our middle tender sapling presented her the other day. What a treasure!

Again, these ideas are all ways husbands and children can shower mama regularly with our love and appreciation. ‘Cause mama-gardeners love TLC from their brood of tender saplings and mates anytime. And nurturing the nurturer helps her do her vital work of parenting. So sprinkle in some mindful surprises often!