All the things that Mom needs to remember

When I was a kid, we had a VCR and my mom who works as a manager didn’t really know how to operate that thing other than probably pushing the play button. I remembered thinking why do grown ups can be so slow in learning all these stuff? It is piece of cake?!

It took me many years to find the answer, and I finally understand it now that I have my own kids. My eldest son, at times asked me to help him out with difficult levels in his electronics games. Games like Minecraft or Real Steel or even the CoC. My answer has always been sorry, son, I don’t know how to play these games.

I bet after a while he would think of me just the way I thought of mom many years ago.

But the truth is, my Mom would have been just as kickass a VCR operator back in 1985 just as I could be jaw-dropping at Minecraft now, IF ONLY WE WANTED TO! What stopping us is this voice at the back of our heads saying that we don’t want to, despite the fact that pleasing the children is one of our ultimate life objectives.

Let me explain what is going on in that brain of a mom. Now, everything in that grey matter is a whole bunch of complicated shopping list to-do lists. Running these so called cool techie stuff like winning the boss level of a game or operating some fancy Android ( not Apple, Apple is way to user-friendly and cool) tab sat right at THE BOTTOM of the priority list which is Penang bridge long! The SECOND Penang bridge.

If you don’t know how extensive that is, picture these lists as a mind map. At the center of the map there is Bubble No 1 called “SAFETY”, because everybody knows that safety comes first! From that SAFETY bubble, a dozen smaller bubbles of secondary items branched out.

How a mom’s brain work – pic courtesy of brainblogger.com

These branches include:

1) Safety of Kids – don’t let kids reach the medicine cabinet, have the kids taken their medication?, don’t leave kids in cars, don’t let them follow strangers,  find safe drivers to fetch kids home from school, did my kid board the right van home,  kids’ Crocs shoes might got stuck on escalator, BPA free bottles… etc etc etc

2) Safety of Herself – before entering car see there might be someone in back seat, don’t walk to car alone in quiet car parks, put (freaking expensive) handbag on car floor, someone might break car window at red light, watch for snatchers, watch for cameras in changing room, watch for attackers, watch for kidnappers, watch for con man, etc etc etc

All of these and dozens more just under SAFETY but at the same time, the brain is also computing “Keeping my Family Healthy”, “Educating and Disciplining my Kids”, “Being An Great Wife”, “Being A Great Employee”, “Being a Acceptable Daughter In Law”, “Being Spiritual” and the list goes on and on and on….

Until quite right at the end of this priority list,  you would see, “Reading My Favorite Book”, “Getting a Facial”, and “HELP MY KID PLAY MINECRAFT”.

There you go… Sigh! I am very sorry Miki and Rafa, but what if I spend extra neurons activities in my brain unlocking a map on Minecraft, and those neurons activities were meant to keep me watching out for all the Mat Rempits while I drive? Do you know how many Rempits dah mampos  could get into an accident if we car drivers don’t give them extra cilok-cilok priveledges? People could die, kids, they could dieeeeeeee…..

Again I am sorry, but these days it is really hard being a worker, a blogger, a mom, a working blogger mom…

There are so many things I need to remember and to do! When I said do, it is not merely doing something but it has to be done right! Or else, I will be on headline of the newspaper;  Forgetful mother left child is car, Careless mom on smartphone let kid falls off escalator, Woman attacked while opening front door….

It is a scary world out there, not just for you children but adults too. Me as a mom live a complicated live and I am not even a perfectionist. So I hope you understand why I can’t always be there for you in figuring out games and gadgets and stuff. Let Daddy do that ok?

Love you much!
Mummy