CHASING FOOD DREAMS: Our Today Moments with Friso, Growing Up Together!

Time is Precious, So Use It Wisely!

In my life, I do admit to being blessed in many ways. Of course my biggest miracle would have to be my little boy. Truth be told, I really never thought I would have a child let alone be a mother to the little one. Growing up in a big family, I had lots of chances with all my nieces and nephews and I know that it takes a lot to nurture them and be a responsible parent. And so I was intimidated at the thoughts of having one.

I had my little one fairly late in my 30s and of course, I wasn’t prepared for this. In fact, I was really afraid as I wasn’t sure on how to be a mother. My parents were really strict with me while growing up. Don’t get me wrong, my parents are really great to me and of course I did rebel a few times in my teens but I realized it later how they were only trying to protect me and teaching me the rights and wrongs in life. Strangely also, I never thought much on what it takes to be a mother till I became one. Of course my mom, I love her so much, is the greatest mom I am blessed with. She never complains and always just tries her best to take care of the family with all the household chores and meals. She had never had much education while growing up since she had to take care of her brothers and sisters and so she also never had to work since all her life was to take care of everyone else. She married young to my dad and continue what she does best, caring and nurturing all of us. All these lead me to always never really realizing how much she sacrifices for all of us until I left home. When Dad passed away 21 years ago, she stood strong in front of us, never really showed us how much it devastated her. She became a tower of strength, bring up all six of us alone.

Fast forwarding to five years ago, I became pregnant and my little one is almost five years old now. Thinking back then, I was afraid… afraid on how to be a good mother. There are lots of parenting books but truthfully, none really prepares you to be a mother. When D (my little one) was born, things changed. In fact, my world changed completely. I was working in an environment that took up most of my time each day. I decided that my work condition have to change. I took on another role to be able to work on a more normal hour job scope but that still means a nine-to-five kind of job. D was placed with a nanny during the day and I would rush to pick him up after seven thirty each evening. By the time I reach home, I was tired. I would play with him for about two hours before D would snooze off for the day. Of course with D, both my hubby and I have less time for ourselves as there are still household chores and work to be done before we go to bed. I find time suddenly vanishing each day and I honestly yearn for more time on some days.

I was lucky in some ways as D was a really good child. As long as he is well fed and he is comfortable, he would snooze off at any chance he could get. Looking back, I also realize D spent more time with his nanny than me when growing up since she had him more hours than I had with D each day. But I wasn’t able to watch him grow up as much as I wanted. To be honest, if I have a choice, I would have loved to be a full time mother for D but financial matters didn’t allow this.

Recently, I was engaged in Friso’s ‘Our Today Moments’ campaign. The campaign is to create awareness to the public on how to get the most out of our time with our precious little ones.

*photo credits from here

When I was filling out a survey for Friso Gold, I realize that that somewhere along the way of being a mother, I have actually lost track of my initial goal in life when I became a mother. In addition to work, and blogging, I have also spent less time with D over the last year. It was always a mad rush each day and after work, I would reach home late around 8-9pm each day. Meaning after dinner and shower, it was really little time spent with D each night. I am also missing out all his growing moments more and more lately. In fact, sometimes it got to the point that I plan my day based on my activities rather than what he wants to do.

The survey also reported that a typical Malaysian fulltime mother spends an average of 6 hours and 45 minutes with her kids in a day but a working mother spends about 4 hours only. While the fulltime mother or housewife reported a 60% quality time out of the average time she has with her kids, working mothers reported only 30% quality time from the 4 hours. It’s really hard for me too from a working mother’s standpoint as I can relate to the above said. It’s not because I don’t want to but I admit to getting distracted and sidetracked all the time with everything that is going around. It is also quite stressful to juggle everything together from family to work and blogging as well sometimes and manage them all well. It really takes a lot to be a mother and I realize it once I became one myself.

I admit to being guilty at times but I also want to ensure that I can work hard enough to provide a better life for D. Sometimes I also want to have some fun with D but I can be at lost for ideas. But the most important thing to me of all, is that I wish to be D’s mother and friend at the same time and bringing him up to the very best I can.

*photo credits from here

What about you? Do you face the same issues like me? Thanks to Friso Gold, I am reminded again of my priorities in life with my family, especially D. It is really important to spend time, and not just time but quality time, with your children. Time is so precious so make sure we all use it wisely, especially with our loved ones. It’s really not as difficult as we think, we just need to know how to plan, prioritize and make the effort for our precious little ones.