"Together with her spouse Väino, [Mare Tupits] has raised three active daughters — Anne, Kristi and Liisa," Estonian Women's Union chairwoman Siiri Oviir said at the ceremony on Sunday. "She is grandmother to three little boys. She has an endless supply of warmth and caring for her family, and with her positive outlook on life she chases all clouds of worry away. Her children say that their mother has taught them everything, and it is their mother and father's shared understand that has taught them how to live."

According to Oviir, Tupits has worked as a nurse for more than four decades, including at a children's hospital, where her motherly care has been an indispensable consolation to her young patients.

"Having earned her master's degree, she has now taught nursing and midwifery students at Tallinn Health Care College for a quarter of a century already," Oviir added.

"Every mother is unique, and every mother is a good mother in their own way," Tupits told ETV's "Aktuaalne kaamera" news broadcast when asked how one can be a good mother. "And I believe that there is no recipe as such for how to be one. But personally, I am apparently caring and I try to understand, not condemn. And children have to have boundaries too, as children actually want boundaries. But what is most important is that I grow together with my child."

The Mother of the Year title was awarded at the Estonian Male Choirs Association-organized Mother's Day concert at Paide Music and Theatre House, where President Kersti Kaljulaid also delivered a speech in honor of the holiday.