Coffee.  Good or bad, the Mother's Day theme this year seems to be coffee.

Yesterday, I asked my eleven-year-old daughter what she thought moms needed for Mother's Day. She replied, "Moms need two things: 1-Coffee, and, 2-A day for themselves." I couldn't help but ask, "Why coffee?" Her answer: "They need help coping with their day with their busy schedules of picking up kids, dropping them off all over the place, and working." Hmmmm.... Quite observant, isn't she?

Then today I was talking with some moms after a soccer game and asked, "What do you think about Mother's Day?" The answer included coffee again: "I don't hate Mother's Day and don't love it.  For me it's a holiday that greeting card companies want you to have so they can sell more cards.  It's even nicer when the kids do something spontaneously like make me coffee for no reason.  I just want coffee."

Heads nodded as this was said.

Well then.

I was puzzled for a bit by this mini-trend connecting coffee and Mother's Day, and then I made the connection: Modern mothers are juggling an unprecedented number of roles at the same time.  Women now comprise 50% of the labor force, and a full three-quarters of moms now hold jobs.  Times have changed. In fact, most families now need the wages of two parents to put food on the table, and more mothers are primary breadwinners.

Take the daily schedule of most modern moms involving work, family, life, and all that's in between--and a theme of coffee starts to make sense.

I myself am on my 3rd cup of the day.

It's not just a few post-soccer game moms who are experiencing the time crunch of modern motherhood.  The fact of the matter is that times have changed, but our family economic security policies have yet to catch up to modern realities--putting many moms in a tiring, coffee-love-inducing, time crunch.

What family economic security policies need to be updated, you might ask?  We lack updated family economic security policies that most other nations take for granted in areas like paid family leave, flexible work options, increased access to affordable early learning for kids, equal pay for equal work (Yes, this is still an issue!), and sick days to name a few.

I've got to pause to take a moment to ask here: How can it be that 163 other countries have a minimum standard for paid sick days, but we aren't one of them?   (And the corollary: How can we achieve cost savings in healthcare if folks can't stay home if they're sick, much less go to the doctor to keep from getting sick in the first place?)

And, how can it be that 177 other countries have some form of paid leave for new moms after the birth of a child, and the U.S. isn't on that list?

I might note that studies show passing such policies helps lower the wage gap between mothers and non-mothers, and thus between women and men, which helps increase the economic security of families overall.

Yes, times have changed, mothers are indeed juggling an unprecedented number of work and family roles at the same time, but -- between sips of coffee -- we're doing it in a world that hasn't caught up to this new reality.

Fortunately, as moms are increasingly time crunched, they (we!) are also increasingly banding together to use our political power to advocate for change.

We are powered up--and it's not just because of excess caffeine.  Here's a quick mom power assessment:

-       Numbers: There are more than 83 million moms in our nation and 81% of women having children by the time they are 44 years old.

-       Voters: Women (the majority of whom are mothers) comprise the majority of the electorate;

-      Purchasers: "Moms account for $2 trillion dollars worth of purchases, and there isn't a brand on Earth that doesn't want to connect with her."

Moms are increasingly coming together to use this power to start updating our public policies and business practices -- and we're moving mountains.

The proof is in the fast growing membership of organizations like MomsRising, which has expanded from a handful of members when started in May of 2006 to more than a million members today.

We're seeing moms increasingly wield this power in the political arena.  For example, the members of MomsRising are taking action on-the-ground and online in growing numbers, like making more than 600,000 constituent contacts in support of health reform; helping to pass paid family leave at the state level; helping win stronger chemical standards to protect kids from dangerous toxins; winning passage of the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to help stop wage discrimination; and successfully advocating for the expansion of unemployment insurance to part-time and low-wage workers--many of whom are mothers.

We're also seeing this as national leaders like Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid increasingly recognize that the voices of moms are important.

In fact, right now, for Mother's Day, Senate Majority Leader Reid posted a blog on the MomsRising site, saying, "The most important lesson my mother taught me was that by believing in myself I could handle anything.  The confidence she instilled in me has propelled me through my whole career and helped me through many personal and professional challenges.  On this Mothers' Day, I salute the mothers of MomsRising who have been tireless advocates..."

(Full disclosure to Senator Reid: We're tireless--but only with the help of much coffee!)

So this Mother's Day, raise a cup to moms everywhere who are raising their voices to make America a better place for families.

Happy Mother's Day!

*Today is Mother's Day, and I'll bet you know a mom (or two, three or four!) who deserves thanks--and an award--for all she does.  This link allows you to make a video tribute that's easy, free & funny for all the moms in your life: http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/