For the past few days, the morning radio show I listen to has been holding a Mother’s Day contest.
The person who calls in with the best mom story wins a gift certificate to buy jewelry for the OG special woman in their life – mom.
And while there’s nothing wrong with a shiny new pair of earrings or a necklace, what moms REALLY REALLY want for Mother’s Day isn’t diamonds or pearls…oh no. It’s a commodity much rarer than precious stones.
It turns out that what moms are dreaming about getting isn’t a “thing” at all…
..it’s a nap.
That’s right. SLEEP. Because as much as we love our children, truly, madly, & deeply we do, there’s no denying that motherhood is freaking exhausting.
This is why, when a recent survey asked more than 1,000 mothers, “What do you consider to be the ideal Mother’s Day gift?” the number one answer was A NAP.
(And mothers everywhere wearily raise their heads and nod, “YES PLEASE.”)
To find out what matriarchs want most, Time2play.com surveyed 1,024 moms across the United States with children still living at home.
The average age of respondents was 36.4 years. 65.7% were employed full-time while 26.9% were stay-at-home moms.
Moms in 18 U.S. states rated catching some sweet, uninterrupted zzzs as the number one gift their family could give them. Emphasis on the UNINTERRUPTED.
That’s right kiddos. No hopping into bed with mom. Shocking as it may be, she doesn’t actually want your elbows and knees piercing her ribcage.
Know what else she doesn’t want? To be relegated to 3 square inches of space as you spread-eagle yourself across the entire bed.
Just no.
She wants to be alone. Also shocking, I know. To sleep without your sweet breath wafting in her face as she desperately tries to get in 2-winks never mind 40.
Look, moms live in a perpetual state of exhaustion. Most of us are just running on coffee fumes and chocolate infusions. I mostly blame my kids for this.
Our days are overrun with working, paying bills, endless laundry, cooking, cleaning, and keeping small humans alive (not to mention the other billion and a half items on the to-do list).
Our nights are spent staying up way too late or getting up way too early or getting up multiple times when we should be sleeping.
So the fact that a majority of mothers just want a nap for Mother’s Day, isn’t surprising in the least. Forget the sheep and count me in.

Other than sleep, want to know what else moms want? A meal. Cooked by literally anyone other than themselves.
Rounding out third place is cleaning. Also done by literally anyone other than themselves. So forget about buying her the latest Dyson, try just doing the actual vacuuming.
“It turns out moms don’t want a vacuum, they want someone to vacuum.”
Coming in 4th, 5th, and 6th place respectively are:
- Moms in AZ, DC, HI, NY, and NV want a day at the spa
- Moms in ND, SD, UT, and WA want flowers
- Moms in Missouri want a card (with a coupon for a nap, probably).

Moms deserve ALL the things. After all, we really do, do it all.
As time2play.com wrote:
“Many consider being a mom the hardest job in the world. Moms are coaches, multitaskers, planners, diaper changers, mediators, chauffeurs, nurses, teachers, and more.
These days, most moms tackle these tasks while also maintaining a full-time career.
So the least we can do for mom is to give her exactly what she wants on the one day a year that’s just for her.”
And what she wants (and needs) is a BREAK. For approximately 1.98 days, give or take. At least, according to time2play’s poll that is.
In addition to asking what moms want for Mother’s Day, they also asked:
“If you could take a break of a full day or more away from your kids, would you?”
The answer? 66.7% answered YES. 33.3% lied and said no.

As for what our own Meredith Masony wants for Mother’s Day?
She just doesn’t want to have to answer ONE MORE QUESTION. She is “neuro-flaccid.” Her poor brain is DONE. Done like dinner. The one her sweet children and husband better be making her for Mother’s Day.
Check out her hilarious video about it here:
And to all the mothers out there, we just want to wish you a Very Happy Mother’s Day! May you get exactly what you want.