On Mother’s Day, it is especially important to honor mothers who go above and beyond in their devotion to their children. As a full-time mom to her son Barron, Melania Trump, First Lady of the United States, appears to fit the bill. While most women of wealth and privilege hire nannies to cover childcare while they focus on business or social pursuits, Melania prefers to prioritize motherhood. As reported in the Inquisitr, Melania employs no nannies and even takes Barron to school each morning herself, using his school hours to work on her jewelry line.

According to Parenting magazine, Melania Trump’s relationship with Barron is a lot closer to that of a typical stay-at-home mother than it is to a rich socialite. Melania cooks breakfast for Barron every morning, prepares his lunch, takes him to school, picks him up, and spends the afternoon with him. By choosing to embark on her jewelry business after Barron started attending school, Melania struck a balance between commitment to motherhood and dedication to her entrepreneurial goals. According to People magazine, Melania finds great value in her role as a mother, stating,

“Motherhood is amazing – there’s really nothing like it.”

In the Parenting interview, Melania mentions that her husband Donald is very busy and was not as hands-on during Barron’s early years as she was. However, she seems happy with an arrangement that allows her to experience the lion’s share of child rearing, noting, “I didn’t want him to change the diapers or put Barron to bed. I love every minute of it.”

However, Donald Trump has played more of a role in Barron’s life in recent years, spending quality time eating dinner with his son and playing golf at Mar-A-Lago. According to People, Melania recognizes how important it is for Barron to spend quality time with his father.

“Barron loves to be one-on-one with Dad because normally he’s almost always all the time with me. So I give them space when it’s Daddy and Barron time. They go alone for dinner, one-on-one. They play golf together. He looks forward to that.”

According to Parenting, Melania Trump’s number one tip for parents is to develop good listening skills. Melania listens to Barron’s concerns and then guides and supports him based on his messages, being sure to respect his opinions and give him a chance to make mistakes so that he may learn from them. If Melania hired a nanny, she may miss these critical moments. In a People interview, Melania made her views on motherhood very clear, stating, “I like to be hands-on. I think it’s very important.”

According to a 2014 Pew Research study, stay-at-home mothers are on the rise. The percentage, although still relatively low, has risen from 23 percent in 1999 to 29 percent 2012, in defiance of a decades-long downward trend. Two-thirds of stay-at-home moms are like Melania, married with a working husband. Although only 28 percent of children in the U.S. have stay-at-home mothers, 60 percent of Pew Research survey respondents said children are “better off when a parent stays home to focus on the family.”

Melania’s complete devotion to being Barron’s mother appears to have resulted in a healthy development. According to Parenting, Barron is a very creative and intelligent young boy, who often draws detailed pictures of sights that he has seen when traveling with his parents. Barron is also fond of building vast Lego structures, perhaps inheriting his father’s talent for building construction. The strongest testament to Melania’s dedication to being a hands-on parent to Barron is the fact that he is fluent in his mother’s native language, Slovenian. According to Bilingual Kid Spot, Melania herself speaks a whopping five languages: Slovenian, English, German, French, and Serbian.

Melania has lived a colorful and successful life both before and after the birth of Barron. Born in 1970 in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, Melania became a professional model at age 16, according to Biography. In 1996, she moved to New York, where she met Donald Trump at a New York fashion party two years later. Melania married Donald in 2005 and became a U.S. citizen in 2006 after becoming a mother to Barron. In 2010, Melania launched her jewelry line and later created a skincare line. The First Lady attributes her success to her own determination and hard work. Her Parenting interview reveals her personal mantra.

“Believe in yourself. Be proud of who you are, no matter who you are married to, are dating, or who your parents are, Be your own person. And take care of yourself, because when you take care of yourself first, you will do a much better job taking care of others.”

Melania Trump’s dedication to her son Barron is remarkable in light of general U.S. statistics and especially when compared to that of mothers of similar wealth and social strata, who often rely on nannies to shoulder the bulk of childcare responsibilities. Melania has instead decided to do it herself, with her close relationship with her son Barron standing as a beautiful testament to her devotion to being a mother.

[Featured Image by Brad Barket/Getty Images]