So many of the words we live by have come from the women in our lives, be it mothers, grandmothers, sisters or friends. So WMC thought a great way to honour Mother’s Day would be to ask a few brilliant women in its orbit to share a piece of wisdom. Turns out, something really wonderful happens when we put our heads together.
To my three musketeers,
I want you to grow up and be proud of who you are and where you’re from. To know your roots. I want you to love each other and look after each other because what you guys have is unconditional love. Don’t ruin it. Fight for what you want and believe in your dreams. Nothing comes without a fight, never give up. You owe it to yourselves to make all your dreams come true. Be positive. Stay positive and spread your positivity, it’s contagious. Say sorry, again and again because it’s relieving and a healer. Be you but true, don’t lie because you are only lying to yourselves and it not only harms you but others around you. Remember what goes around comes around. Help others if they need it and be compassionate, the feeling is amazing. Lastly, know that I love you no matter what. I will be here for you no matter what. And most of all thank you for choosing me. 
(Maria Thomas – Mother of three- Founder Wednesday Morning Coffee)
Tips from me to my three:
- Be honest – avoid lies they will come back one day to bite you in the leg.
- Be passionate about what you do, love what you do so that you can do it well. If you are going to do a job do it well or don’t do it at all.
- Be positive about your life, stay positive in times of sadness and think positively every day.
- Always nurture your relationships, they take time to find and they are harder to keep.
- Always be humble and say sorry if you need to.
- Be forgiving, don’t let an argument fester over –night, patch things up with those you love immediately.
- Value yourself, take pride in yourself look after yourself and love yourself.
- Be financially independent, do not rely on a partner for financial security.
- Everyone is equal in this world.
- Money comes and goes, don’t dwell on it if you don’t have it and don’t show it if you have more than enough.
- Always help those in need -give back to the universe.
- Be grateful and be appreciative of what you have.
(Yiota Kontoloucas- Mother of three (I’m one of them)- English School Director)
My main goal as a new mummy is to teach my daughter how to respect herself and others, that to be happy is the most important thing and to know how to forgive and how to love herself. Above all, I want her to know that the world is her oyster and she can do whatever she sets her mind on. 
(Anthi Kleanthous –New mummy -English teacher)
For me, the number one thing I want to pass on to my baby girl is to be grateful for what she has than being sad for what she hasn’t. Another quality that is equally important for me is empathy- caring about others. On this note, I want to share these wise words spoken by another mother that really made an impact on me, ‘the only time you should worry about what’s in your neighbour’s bowl is when you are checking that they have enough.’
(Elena Kontoloucas – New mummy- English teacher)
I taught them to be fair, to follow their dreams and if they love what they do, they will always succeed and always be happy. Never go with the flow if they don’t feel like it. Stand up for themselves and for others.
(Christiana Anastasiou- Mother of three-Headmistress)
Raising three boys has been my biggest challenge in life… I never saw it coming! Having said that, what I wanted to teach them made no difference if they were boys or girls! First of all, I wanted them to know that kindness is not a behaviour but a way of living. By respecting others and by having self-respect they can accomplish true love, happiness, honesty and trust! Kindness! It’s important they help those that need help, when they know about someone in need it directly becomes their duty to help them!
(Carina Savva- Mother of three -Founder of Funraising Charity foundation)
Currently I am spending time teaching my new born prince to trust me and his daddy, to show him how unconditionally loved he is and to create an environment of comfort and security.
A few things from his mummy to keep for a lifetime are: To have faith. To believe in himself, in the people around him and in a greater power, whatever that is. To be grateful for both the little and big things in his life! To be fearless, to try new things and to have an opinion of his own. And finally, to be compassionate and to love!
(Skevi Vasiliou- New Mummy Marketing Director)
What I would like my girls to remember is that we have to share love and smile with people in need. We have to help each other. We have to think positive and try to find the positive side of every situation, no matter how unpleasant is. That we become what we want. Family bonding is precious but so is quality time with their friends. Never change who you are for someone else. We always have to work hard to achieve our goals.
(Maria Laspou- Mother of two- Graphic Designer)
Honesty and Respect the two most important words in our life and in our daily routine! I think that from the time the girls were old enough to understand how things ‘work’, I haven’t stopped drilling this through various daily examples. Life isn’t always rosy but if you are honest and respectful to everyone and everything around you, you get much more out of life. As sisters, they need to try and be there for eachother as much as they can but at the same time respect eachothers individuality and privacy. Love each other and themselves.
(Katerina Soteriou -Mother of two- MUA and English teacher)
To be kind and considerate. If you are a kind person kindness always comes back to you. To treat people the way they would like to be treated. I always tell them to put themselves in their friend’s position. To be generous and giving with their feelings. To learn how to say sorry. To speak politely and have good manners. I feel this is very important today as these important qualities are slowly fading away. To be thoughtful and always think of others.To believe in themselves/ giving them confidence- that they can be anything they want to be and that everything is possible. To eat healthily- this is a constant struggle and the importance of physical exercise.To love, not to feel afraid of expressing their feelings. Showing my children love is something I hope they will learn to do in any relationship.
(Georgina Kontoloucas- Mother of two-English teacher)
Advice to my children: Raise your children:
With praise so they learn to appreciate
With fairness so they learn justice
With tolerance so they learn to be patient
With encouragement so they learn confidence
With security so they learn to have faith
With approval so they learn to like themselves
With acceptance and friendship so they learn to find love in the world.
(Troodia Georgallides- Mother of four- Business Woman, Owner of Splash by the Beach)
Happy Mother’s Day
Maria x
