A few years ago, after a decade of full-time mothering, my wife Anne became restless. Our four daughters were in school and she wanted to find a way to make better use of her Ivy League education and entrepreneurial mind. But she wasn’t sure what to do and was fearful that starting a career would prevent her from being the great mom she was and wanted to be.

A book called Finding Your Own North Star by Martha Beck helped her clarify what she liked to do and was good at. As a result, she started a family-friendly children’s activity center built around gymnastics. She cleverly got me on board by stressing it would be built on the principles of CHARACTER COUNTS!

Creating and running The Josephson Academy of Gymnastics became much more challenging than either of us expected. On the plus side, Anne’s made great use of all her maternal instincts, becoming a queen bee mother and nurturing more than 1,000 toddlers and teens. And, on most days, she loves it.

On the downside, the time and emotional drain of loving so many kids and dealing with demanding parents and employees has made it much harder for her to be the “always there” mother of her own children.

The stress is enormous, and she struggles constantly. In my view, she succeeds admirably, but I know she’s often wracked with guilt. It’s the plight of most working moms, and I don’t think we husbands or dads truly appreciate how difficult it is.

So with Mother’s Day coming up, these marvelous women should get more than flowers or jewelry. They deserve deep, sincere, and enduring admiration and gratitude.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.