As a mother.........

As a mother, I have been scared all my life. Ever since the birth of my eldest son and subsequently more children later, I was extremely afraid of sickness of which they were never spared of. You name it and they had it....asthma ( Roy was an extreme asthmatic case ), eczema, diarrhea, amoebiasis, allergy, flu, colds, cough, measles, mumps, chicken pox, typhoid fever, dengue fever, hernia, appendicitis, poisoning, fractures....etc. I was always a nervous wrecked whenever my children got sick.
When they were of school age, I personally tutored them one on one. I took note of their academic weaknesses and strong points. I sat with them until they had done their lessons for the night. They were not spared of scoldings and spankings. I specially would not tolerate lies. "I am not stupid." I warned them. " So don't lie to me"
I was not specially a dotting mother but that didn't mean I loved them less. For as early as they were young, I was fearful that one day they had to face the real world all by themselves. So my husband and I had to teach them the basics for survival in this jungle world: the rudiments of reading, the ease in dealing with numbers, the joy of doing your work well, the fruitfulness of hardwork, the knowledge of good versus bad, the rational of being humble and above all the love and fear of God. With all my exasperation that my teachings were not getting into them or whether all my sermons had eventually infused into their young minds, I could not have done these things better without constant prayer to God and the help from our blessed Mother.
 
Three of my children left home at the age of 13 for better high schools in Manila. Two of them left at 16 for college education. I kept in touch with them through long distance calls and recently though text messages and chats. Each child had his/her own fair share of difficulty but some problems were beyond our sphere of control like incidents of  robbery and thieves in crowded public places, of car accidents and/or a number of harassing corrupt policemen in highways too, not to say the least. Until now I teeter at their smallest problems. I am still so much of a worrywart and a hysterical mother. In my own capability, I can't do or help them any better. I am an average person without any power or influence. I entrust my children to God and He is kind and merciful.