The Struggle Is Real

Some people would say that being a housewife is easy. And some would even say that her husband can really provide for the family because she stopped working. They are wrong. Being a housewife is as difficult as a working mom, and even more difficult. They can’t even say that the income of her husband is enough to provide for the family, because I came from a family whose only parent working is our father - for no one can look after me and my younger siblings when we were still young, so my mother took care of us all.

As for me, I decided to be a housewife because of two reasons: (1) my son needs me more and it is difficult to entrust his care in the hands of other people because I myself is struggling to discipline and deal with him – and I admit that we became overprotective and too lax when it comes to training and disciplining him that’s why he became spoiled; and (2) no can accompany him to school especially that he will be starting big school this June.

Life is not easy as a housewife especially when she has been working since after finishing college. She doesn’t get to have Sick Leaves, Vacation Leaves and Days Off. As much as possible she has to be healthy all the time for she has a child who is still very dependent of her care. Whenever she is about to lie down for a while to rest and her child will ask for food or needs her help - she can’t just ignore his needs. Whenever she feels sick but she can’t stay at home to rest for her child has a class and he needs her to go with him – she has to stay alert because no one else will do that for him. And when she just wants to relax and watch movies or tv programs that she likes – she can’t just watch any movie or tv program with her child watching especially if it’s not kid-friendly so she has no choice but to tune in to the cartoon channel. And it should not just be any cartoon channel for there are some these channels which have violent programs so she has to be careful in choosing a cartoon channel. When a friend invites her out just to hangout - she still has to consider the day and time she can be available (though I am just lucky that I have a husband who will still let me go out with my friends when they invite me out) for she just can’t bring her child with her and that no one can take her place to take care of him. Whenever there are important errands that she needs to do - she just can’t leave her child at home. And even if she brings him with her, she still needs to consider the place whether she can do both: look after her child and keep focus on that important errand. There are also times that she may feel down and feel sorry for herself but all she can do is just cry and tell her husband how she’s feeling – but nothing can be done with the situation because she has no other choice but to stick around to her child. There are also times that she easily gets irritated and is hard to reason out. And since she doesn’t have a job, she has no money. So whenever she needs to buy something for her child, or if her family has emergency needs, she still needs to ask from her husband (though I am lucky that he shares our blessings to my family in times of emergencies).

I am not born an entrepreneur. So if some people out there would tell me why not put up a business, all I can say is: I will fail on that field. And if some would say why not go look for an online job, well I did that but it’s not as easy as you think finding for one.

So yes, the struggle is real for me. But I’m still hoping that before I get to my mid 30s I will be able to get back to work without sacrificing the welfare of my son.