desperate housewives

Often and all too quickly, some mothers that I’m meeting for the first time asks me what my last occupation was. Perhaps they’re eager to tell me what theirs was. Give me and yourselves a break - I don’t “Need to know” that you were a former lawyer or some high-flying professional; I can tell by the way you sing, teach and speak with your children that you are a capable and a highly educated person.

I am uncomfortable telling people my last career designation because I strongly feel that we are more than our jobs. I do not feel compelled to fill my time up with activities. I do, however, feel responsible to waste time with my child so that she feels loved and secured. My greatest JOY was seeing her enthusiasm at PLAY and my biggest achievement was her interaction with black, white and yellow-skinned kids without any inhibition.

I am one of the few mothers that I know who wants her child to grow up slowly and enjoy her childhood. When Zoe was first born, my hubby and I had this debate about getting the child up to speed for doing things independently - no prizes for guessing what my stand was!

My take is that a child should first be loved. All other things will fall in placed in its own time, at its own course. Why hurry things? We didn’t used to go to kindergarten till we were five or six, did we? We have a whole lifetime to work (and that includes studying and writing!), and for now, I think Zoe has a right to grow at her own pace. jeanne anne hsi