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Photo courtesy of Beth Wilder.
Alabama Mother of the Year Beth Wilder, right, with the 2014 Alabama Mother of the Year, Patricia Payne.
Beth Wilder knows a thing or two about being a mom. That maternal wisdom paid off this year when the Mountain Brook resident was named Alabama’s Mother of the Year by American Mothers Inc.
Yet Wilder, a mom to two boys and a girl, doesn’t believe there’s such a thing as being a perfect mom.
When asked what advice she would give to young mothers, Wilder said it’s always good to take a step back.
“Relax and enjoy your kids,” she said.
While things can seem overwhelming in the moment, Wilder said it’s important to take in the big picture.
“Don’t get so caught up in the little things,” she said. “We worry so much when our kids are little and then we eventually come to realize that a lot of it wasn’t really that important in the grand scheme of things. Don’t worry if the laundry doesn’t get folded or if the kids don’t get down to nap at exactly 2 p.m. every day. The laundry will be there and the kids will adjust.”
Wilder, a native of Montevallo, moved to Mountain Brook when it was time for her kids to go to school. After attending Auburn University, Wilder worked in corporate communications before transitioning into a stay-at-home mom. While raising her children, Wilder has stayed busy by working as a freelance writer, reading tutor and literacy advocate.
She helped found the Children’s Literacy Guild of Alabama in 2005 and served as its president before she joined the board of the Literacy Council in 2006. She began serving as director of the Literacy Council fulltime in 2010, where she implemented new adult programming and oversaw the construction of the Literacy Council Center for Lifelong Learning.
Now that her own children are grown — Will, her oldest at 23, has graduated college and lives in St. Louis; Patrick, 21, is a junior at Auburn; and Hannah, the youngest, is a junior at Mountain Brook High School — Wilder said being a mom has taken a new turn.
“When your kids are young, it’s physically hard to be a mom,” she said. “You are up in the middle of the night, chasing them around and, it seems, always instructing them. But when they get older, it’s more emotionally hard to be a mom.”
As your children grow, she said, you will experience them dealing with challenging situations.
“They struggle with things in junior high, high school and in college. You sleep more at night, but you are mentally exhausted from all that goes on with teenagers,” she said with a laugh.
Wilder said being a mother is “an amazing responsibility.”
“We are the only people who can give life,” she said. “Once you create that life, you need to raise that human up to be a good citizen.”
Wilder said being a mom is unlike anything else, and is truly a rewarding experience.
“Now that they are adults, I can see that all the harping, the talking and the teaching actually meant something to them,” she said. “When you are telling them to say, ‘please,’ ‘thank you’ and to sit up straight, you think it is all falling on deaf ears. But then you watch them turn into awesome adults, and you know that they were listening.”
Wilder said she learned she had been nominated for the Mother of the Year award in December. From then until February, she worked on the required portfolio, which included letters of recommendation from family members, before submitting it to American Mothers Inc. When she won the Alabama award, Wilder was invited to attend the American Mothers convention in Washington, D.C., where she spent three days meeting the Mothers of the Year from other states.
“It was really great to hear from so many other mothers,” Wilder said. “It was a true testament to the power of motherhood.”
Today, Wilder also serves as a member of The Women’s Network, Sunrise Rotary and is a member of the board of directors for the Alabama Literacy Alliance. She is a member at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and is active with the Girl Scouts.
According to its website, American Mothers Inc. is “committed to valuing mothers through service and education … since 1935.” American Mothers is an official sponsor of Mother’s Day. Founders include Eleanor Roosevelt, Sara Delano Roosevelt, Mamie Eisenhower, JC Penney and Norman Vincent Peale. For more information, visit americanmothers.org.
