10 Insanely Nice Things You Can Say to Any Mother

When you're a mother, every day is an adventure in multimedia art. You are called upon to be a food stylist (teddy bear faces on the breakfast toast), a draftswomen (chore charts that are both convincing and fun), a poet (lunch bag notes), a juggler (scrambling an egg while calling about your carpool while signing a permission slip while feeding the cat), not to mention a director and producer of the whole day's performance. And the kids are sure to be extremely appreciative...in about three decades. Noticing some small, specific thing that a mom obviously put work into—whether it's stripy icing on a carrot cupcake or the handmade scarf her kid's blowing his nose into—is a beautiful way to appreciate the work of art that is her everyday life.