Wife wonders if she is wrong to expect a nice gesture from her husband on Mother's Day

Mother's Day is a special occasion to honor the relentless efforts of mothers, yet for some, the significance of this day remains unrecognized. u/EmphasisExisting54, a new mom, shared her disappointment on Reddit when her husband ignored her first Mother's Day despite her expressed wishes for a celebration. Her post resonated widely, garnering 4.4K upvotes and over 1.1K comments.

At the start of the post, she provided some background about welcoming their first child, a son, last year. The duo worked remotely. The husband had to go away on a business trip for a few weeks in April, which meant that the wife had to do everything on her own for quite some time. She shared, "He's not the kind of person to really care about holidays, so two weeks ago, a few days after he got home, I told him I cared about Mother's Day and what I wanted for Mother's Day—a couple of small things including pictures, a new thermos, and to do something together as a family." It was her first time celebrating the day as a mom. 

Ever since the husband returned from his business trip, the family remained busy for a few weeks, with him settling back into their routine. He did look after the baby, but the wife would take bedtime and nighttime duties, along with household chores. They took part in cooking as well. On Mother's Day morning, the wife got up early to feed their son. She asked her husband if he had prepared anything for her and he began to get upset. He replied, "When would I have the chance?" 

She wrote, "On the one hand, I don't want him feeling bad, but on the other hand, he has had two whole weeks to do something and he could have told me he needed to spend more time out and I would have looked after baby while he did Mother's Day errands." The husband continued to be upset and told her again that he never had time. So, the wife asked him if they could have a discussion about it later, at which point he began to accuse her of being "abusive" and always making him feel bad about such things. She apologized and told him that she did not want to hurt his feelings. 

The husband scoffed at this and asked if he should "expect this for the rest of his life." The reply left the woman quite frustrated, so she asked him to step out of the room while she put their son to sleep. They argued about it for a bit, after which the woman turned to Reddit to find out if she was wrong in the situation. People were quick to point out that she had a right to expect a wholesome gesture on Mother's Day. 

u/peggingpinhead said, "You made it clear that Mother's Day mattered to you and he chose not to make the time to plan something. He is in the wrong. The fact that he called you 'abusive' for registering your feelings reads as manipulative and gaslight-y to me. He feels bad because he did something bad, not because you 'made' him feel that way." u/prairiemountainzen commented, "Wow, he did nothing for you except pick a completely unnecessary fight on your *first* Mother's Day and then somehow turned himself into the victim? That's really low."