As today most are celebrating Mothers Day, I just finished a very important task as an Aunt. Yes, I am not yet a mother because I haven’t yet to experience giving birth, but I sometimes portrayed the role of a mother for my nephews and nieces. And as a former teacher, I also experienced being the second mother to all my students in the school.
These past three days, I was assigned to take care of my sisters’ two sons. My elder sister asked me a favor to looked after her boys while she and her husband need to go to hospital to look after her mother-in-law who got into a major road accident. So I drove for more than an hour to their town to fulfill my duties as an Aunt.
It’s a good thing that my nephews are both independent and doesn’t need too much attention. MJ, the eldest is already 10 years old and in the 5th grade while Jacob, the youngest is in kindergarten. Because of the pandemic, both are in online home schooling and modular learning. I was lucky because taking care of them is not that too difficult because MJ being the eldest son is trained to help in the household chores and in doing farm work, even at his young age. He’s the one who feed and clean their small piggery farm and checked regularly their vegetable farm, without being told. He already knows his responsibilities. And because of that, my duties become lesser.
For three days, I was the one who cooked for them and prepare their meals, did some house cleaning and laundry, and attended to their needs, especially Jacob, who needs a little more attention because he’s only 6 years old. He can’t take a bath on his own and need to make him sleep. I also guide them on their online classes and teach them in studying their learning modules.
Though it was tiring and exhausting all day, I still feel rewarded at the end of the day seeing that I did a great job. And for that, I could feel how hard to be a mom. Household works and taking care of the kids are not an easy task. I realized that to be a mom truly need a healthy body, a strong mind, an endless patience and a heart full of devotion. I am very proud of myself because I passed being a temporary mom for three days, that was according to my sister. Of course not as much as her being a real mother, but at least I learned to myself that somehow I can do it.
For that experienced, I salute more my mom, my sisters, my aunts and all the mothers in the world for being the true superhero of every household. Truly, a mother is an irreplaceable person in our life. But I think Aunts deserve a recognition too.
