Motherhood is a Business

For the last thre weeks, I've been playing mummy to my mummy - she having gone through surgery and all.

Let me just start by saying I have realized without a doubt that I am the last person to ever be a caregiver, and I mean EVER. Three weeks of it and I have come to the conclusion that being a housewife and mother is by far THE hardest job in the world and sadly, it took a full-on live experience to make me accept that wholeheartedly.

I don't know how all the mothers of the world do it. Honestly. My hat goes off to every single one of them, for I have been truly humbled by the mammoth task they undertake so willingly. I never really got what the big fuss about being a housewife was until I actually had to poke myself into the role for a few days.

If you're scoffing, shut up now.... because you're probably a poor sod like I was who can't see beyond the jungle that is your office and social life, and one who assumes that a woman who brings up a family has it easy in life. There isn't a businessman or woman in this entire universe who can compete with the energy and lifelong effort of a mother and housewife. You have just one designation. She has every designation.

First, she is a manager, because the entire household's machination comes under her purview. She must do all she can to keep the operation running smoothly and on schedule.

Then she is the Director, passing judgement and making hard decisions on the lives of her home team. If she doesn't do her job right, she will lose her family and the respect of an entire society.

She becomes a trainer and a motivator for her children, and spends each waking day thinking of new ways in which to help them grow as individuals, pushing them to reach their fullest potential. Their losses are her loss, and their victories are a testament of her hard work and support.

Simultaneously, she is also a trainee, because each day of her Directorship is new to her, and every minute is a learning experience. She learns as she goes along and many a mistake is bound to be made and rubbed into her by the external auditors that are society and relatives.

She takes on the role of PR and marketing whenever anyone questions her methods of raising her family and keeping her home. Her PR skills need to work wonders to soothe an angry husband or pacify a sulking child. If she doesn't market herself well and continuously, she may lose the interest of said husband, who is her biggest client. Sadly, it is the way of this chauvinistic world that she is expected to identify his needs and satisfy them before competition steps in.

As the family accountant she will keep tabs on the household expenses, and has little time to think of her own. Personal shopping with petty cash becomes a luxury, because she needs to save for her children whilst providing for them sufficently at the same time. The books can never be in the red - retrenching and resigning are two options she never had.

She becomes the janitor whenever the bathrooms and clothes need cleaning, the butler & chef when meal service is required, the maid every time he leaves his clothes on the floor and the seamstress when term-end concerts come along. Interior decorator, handywoman and carpenter are dual extensions to those existing positions.

To think... she does this every single day of her life from the time she says 'I do' to her contract. No leave granted and no benefits. And sometimes, all this is performed alongside an 'official' career too.

And what is her remuneration for all this? A birthday wish? A mother's day card?


I have never appreciated my mother as much as I do now. Last night I wrote her a letter, thanking her for opening my eyes to the sacrifices she has made and the limiltless love she has put into her multi-tasking role. I will never be able to do even one twentieth of the job by the looks of it... just three weeks of juggling career and home has brought me to a state of exhaustion.

I applaud her. I applaud all the women like her.

Tomorrow, I will wish them all a happy International Women's Day.

(N.B - to all who expressed concern, mum is doing very well now. She is recovering slowly, but surely, and her cancer was removed along with her ovaries. She needs only minimal follow-up treatment and plenty of rest. Thank you for your prayers which worked.)