Fullness of presence!

I heard a mother narrate her routine at home yesterday, starting from 4.30 am in the morning with ironing clothes for her husband and two children, getting breakfast and lunch packets ready for her two children and husband. It is after they leave at 8.30 am she sits down to have her breakfast! The day spans in to doing the laundry, cleaning the house, getting dinner ready, and the finishing the several household chores before children return at 4.30 pm. By 6 pm she is with them to help with their home work.  Her husband returns at 6.30 pm she is usually ready to welcome him and have a family time of playing some board games till diner time at 8pm. Children are at bed at 9pm and they go to bed after their usual bed time rituals. It is then there is some conversation time with her husband and they too are ready for bed at 10 pm. It is during the week end they even watch TV; otherwise it is a quick glance of the news alone. 

As I listened to the narration, the sight of the Lillies in our garden at home came to my mind. They are open towards four directions.  That symbolises presence all around where they are rooted. 

A woman rooted in her home spreads her presence by acts of thoughtfulness, kindness and availability. It is to the mother children turn to. It is she who looks after the day today financial transactions and is responsible for weekly shopping and housekeeping. A woman who is also a wife and mother is present to be available and to be used!

At the end of listening to the story of this mother, I got a sense of her  concern for the inattentive behaviour of her second child, which made her backward academically. It is she who brought her daughter three times recently, which is another role she fulfils at home- to be available for special needs.

I wonder whether husbands and wives share equally in the household responsibilities! I agonise over the contrast in many homes, where children are abandoned to viewing TV, Mobile phone or playing computer games, etc as parents find that easier way to occupy their children. When I saw an eleven months old boy taking the phone of her mother and navigate to reach the u-tube, I knew one reason why this child was less sociable a communicative! A failure of parenting!

Let me offer my tribute to all women who take their roles a s wife and mother responsibly! 

M.C.Mathew (text ando photo)