As mothers, we always want the best for our children.
The best milk, the best clothes, the best schools, the best enrichment courses. We do everything we can to ensure they get the best and nothing less.
However more often than not, we sometimes do not take care of ourselves in the same way. We eat the leftovers that our kids refused to eat. We spare no expense to dress them up but we wear clothes that may even be decades old.
In Singapore, there are even parents who sacrifice family vacations and other things, just so that they can send their kids to the best (read: most expensive) tuition centre in town! Heck, there are even parents who send their kids to two different preschools at the same time!
Parents spend so much time fussing over their children that I sometimes wonder if they do anything for themselves anymore. What about all the hobbies you used to do before you became parents?!
I know for me personally, I gave up my hobby of painting after I gave birth to my baby girl 2 years ago. I was so preoccupied with learning how to breastfeed, how to change her diapers and essentially how to be a mother that I chucked most of my hobbies aside just to take care of her.
And now that I’m back to the workforce full-time, the stress of juggling work and motherhood has suddenly brought to light my need to take time out to do the things that I like to do.
So some time ago I joined fellow Singaporean mum bloggers for some art therapy and rediscovered my love for painting. It was so therapeutic that I purposed in my heart to set aside me-time for art at least once a week! I headed straight to the store and bought myself some paint and a lot of canvases to get my artistic groove back on. I felt so happy just choosing paints and brushes!
Be it art, dancing, singing or even something as simple as a manicure, do take time out to do what you really love to do. You really do deserve to be pampered like a queen, once in a while!
P.S: I have many art projects lined up for the coming months and if you would like to see what I’m up to just hop on over to my blog =)
This is an original post to World Moms Blog from our writer, research psychologist and mother of one in Singapore, Madeline Heng. You can find Madeline at her personal blog, MadPsychMum @ University of Motherhood.
The image used in this post is credited to Tech109. It holds a Flickr Creative Commons attribution license.
Wow!! I used to love glass painting too. I painted a lot before my son’s birth. But it has taken a back seat now. But at least I rediscovered my love for writing.
I wish you luck in your art projects.
You should rediscover your love for glass painting! I’m sure I will love to see how it looks =)
Wow!! I used to love glass painting too. I painted a lot before my son’s birth. But it has taken a back seat now. But at least I rediscovered my love for writing.
I wish you luck in your art projects.
Madeline — my hobbies are gardening and learning French. This summer I’ve been working on my vegetable garden and I am starting French lessons in the fall! Oh, and blogging!!!!
Love the art!
Jen 🙂
Ooh cool. We live in flats here so there is no space for us to have any kind of garden unless it’s shared with the rest of the community.
Good for you for getting back to painting! I play soccer once a week on a co-ed team, I facilitate a book club once a month, and I contribute to WMB. Also, every night before bed, I read the book of my choosing in bed and go into my own little world for awhile. All of these things keep me recharged.
Wow! You’re so fit! I should really catch up on my exercise regime 🙂
Good for you Madeline! I used to love going to Pilates class and even just spend time at the gym. Now I am lucky if I can get t either one or the other once a week :-(. I am working on getting a schedule in place to go more often. I also love taking photos (and editing them). There is actually a photography school near me that I keep looking at courses… Now that the little one is 2, I should probably look a little more seriously. Thanks for the reminder! 🙂
Ooh cool. We live in flats here so there is no space for us to have any kind of garden unless it’s shared with the rest of the community.
You mad the right choice Madeline. Me time is so important to all mums and I think that many of us don’t make it a priority in their lives. I am a life and career coach and I have chosen women looking for happiness an satisfaction as my niche. I support them make changes in their lives to reach success and happiness and the first requirement of my program is to set aside 1h daily for her Me time and it is required to make it a commitment as all other commitments in their lives and it made difference for them. I liked your post so much 🙂
Thank you very much for your kind compliments! 🙂