A few days ago I came across an article about my high school friend who has become a celebrity in my hometown. She is like a Dr. Phil here in the US. She has her own tv show, writes a column in a well-known magazine, and a mentor who involves in a public speaking engagement mostly for universities. On top of that she’s also a mom and a wife. She describes herself as someone who is fortunate to have money, brain, the look and fame. She goes to salon twice a week, always wears designer clothing and her skin is flawless. One of my favorite line from that article is, “I have a lot of friends who live in the US. They don’t have nannies and have to take care of their kids all by themselves. Here in Indonesia, we have the privilege of having full time nannies who can take care of our kids and leave us extra time to pamper ourselves.”
Just a little bit info about Indonesian nannies, unlike here in the US, they don’t really educate the children. They are pretty much a caregiver. They don’t help kids with their homework, and they don’t dicipline them. They cook, clean the house, feed the kids (mostly while they play). Being a celebrity requires my friend to be away from her kids a lot. Combined with the traffic problem in Jakarta, I bet for everything that she’s lucky if she gets to spend at least two hours with her kids.
I have to be honest, there was a slight jealousy that came across my mind. Boy, do I wish sometimes I have extra money to buy designer clothes, go to salon and get pampered, or hire a trainer to lose my jelly belly. Instead, I’m fortunate enough if I could get anything within my $50 shopping budget or be a gym member.
Like I said… Life is all about choices. My friend chose to be a celebrity, looking like a porcelain doll and have all the money in the world. I chose to live in a peaceful Midwest suburban. I chose to be a mom who struggle to manage my time between my middle income job and family. But when I look at my son everyday and find out new things that he just learned, everything else doesn’t matter anymore. I am happy with my life and hoping that someday my son could look at me and say, “Mom, you’re a good mom. Thanks for taking care of me.” As I have posted in my previous entry, we can’t have it all because there aren’t enough hours in a day. At the end of the day, all the designer clothes and spa have price tags in them. Being a mom is priceless!
Tags: life as a parent, Parenting
June 29th, 2009 at 8:00 am
One of my friends is a mature woman who had a baby boy in her very late thirties. She dotes on him to the extent that (he’s still only four) he orders her about. She has a career (teleprompter) for a few days a year and the rest of the time she’s a mum. She has no time for anything else. Is her boy going to be grateful? I doubt it, I think he’s simply going to be taking for for granted and the attention of women too.
It’s nice you’re happy now and everything but don’t bank on your boy ever being grateful, he may simply not understand your relationship in the same way you do. You have to be happy in yourself for what you do now, not say it’ll all be worthwhile one day. It has to be worthwhile now.
BB
June 30th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Thanks for the advice!! :)
I am grateful for the most part although sometimes I do wish I have some extra sets of hands and money.