Single Mothers' Day Is Saturday, and Yes, It IS a Thing

By Salma Abdelnour Gilman

Happy Single Mothers' Day to single moms who are kicking so much ass every day, everywhere on earth, making a life and a home for their kids and themselves against so many odds. Wait, Single Mothers' Day is a thing? Yup, it's on the Saturday right before Mother's Day.

But, and here's why you probably don't know about it: Single Mothers' Day only happens in South Korea. At least, it did for the last few years. There's no mention of Single Mother's Day 2018 anywhere, as far as we can tell, but we're celebrating the day anyway, and toasting all the single moms we know and the ones we haven't met yet.

I first heard about Single Mother's Day in this NPR report about a movement in Korea to help unmarried mothers cope with cultural stigmas and face down pressure to give up their babies for adoption. In Korea, government welfare programs that help out struggling parents typically refuse to assist unmarried moms.

The NPR story tells what happened to one baby who was secretly put up for adoption by her grandmother while her mom was at work. That was a few decades ago, and the now-grownup woman recently decided to go back to Korea to search for her biological mother. You'll have to hear the segment to find out what happens next (hint: It involves a fateful reality-TV segment).

A high percentage of Korean babies born to unwed women have been taken from their mothers and put up for adoption over the past few decades, and this is often happening behind the mother's back. See here for more on that, and check out the Korean Unwed Families Association for even more jaw-dropping statistics and info on the movement to gain respect and help for single moms.

Meanwhile, here in the U.S., even if the stigma and pressures around single-parenthood have lessened a bit (but not enough), raising kids solo is an exercise in daily superheroism. Those of us who aren't single parents, but whose kids do a number on our energy and sanity every freaking day, can only look on in awe. We need a Single Mothers’ Day—make that a Single Parents' Day—in America ASAP, yes?

Photo by Thiago Cerqueira via Unsplash.