As a girl, I had looked up to many kinds of women, but never the ones who mostly stayed home. My grandma was a doctor, raised my mom n 2 uncles single-handedly. Starting from her to an aunt who was physically abused , then divorced n yet managed to get a Harvard degree and raised her daughter alone; A friend’s mom who was a gynaecologist in a reputed government hospital and many others. I admired these kind of warriors, struggling in the wicked world. My mom was..well, just a mom! Having to Struggle with her kids only, day in day out!
I grew up. ‘Study’, she told me, ‘no need to do work at home’. She also felt d same I thought, all she had to do was be home and be a nobody. I went ahead to be a dentist, got a great job (‘now I don’t have to stay home,’ I thought). Then I had a baby. He’s 3 now. And since then, I am home,’ just a mom’; more like ‘a nobody’! But my point is, I don’t feel like nobody now. And so, I understand why my mother never got an urge to step out of home to find a recognition for herself in the society (the thought that bothered me as a kid).
To all the working mothers, you have to work, you manage home and the job you are pursuing. You all are super moms already. There shouldn’t be any guilt at all. N your kids understand that and love you as much.
To all the homemakers/full time moms/nobodies like me: now this job has no retirement or fixed work hours. Every now and then, it may seem to you your kids do not value your presence all throughout n all the sacrifices you make for them (that doesn’t even feel like a sacrifice: ‘overhyped word’). But trust me, there is no one in this world I look up to more than my own mother. Irony huh! Well I’m proud of what I do today, of the choices I have made because it felt like the right thing to do. (Also thanks to my husband for working hard enough to battle our expenses n making it easy for me to be the mom I Chose to be.)
Now that I am a mother, I realise we all have capes. Capes that we can’t show. Capes that no superhero can grow!
Mother is a mother, at home or
working out, let’s all
be grateful that we are able to witness the joy
and grace in raising our little ones .
With children out of school, physical distancing as the new norm, and children’s rights under threat, the new world order has “turned back the clock” on years of progress made on children’s well-being. However, it’s not all bad. As a human race, we’ve been built to adapt: we’ve seen a tipping point in technology-enabled education and the promise of a new education policy in our country.
