Mummy’s Wednesday: A parent’s responsibility is for a lifetime

You know what I was thinking the other day after my chat with a friend and colleague? I got to thinking that as a parent, your responsibility to your child doesn’t end one day; it actually lasts till the day you breathe your last.

I am married but frankly, my mum still acts her part in my life. Well, maybe I don’t get to disturb her for financial assistance like I did when I lived under her roof but in many more ways, I still call on her.

There comes a time in some people’s lives when they begin to think their parents are crowding in on their spaces. They begin to feel like their parents are calling too much, expecting to be called but truth is, they have always been that way only while the child grows and becomes independent, the mother tends to still be the mother she has always been.

A male friend once complained that whenever his mother came to visit him, she keeps calling him up if he isn’t home yet by 1am. He claims he is sick and tired or her treating him like a child while he is a grown man.

But that woman isn’t calling because she wants to spoil the fun the young man is having; on the contrary, the mother’s instinct in her is reaching out. She could have slept and welcomed the man back the next morning when she woke up, but she chose to stay awake and call on him to be sure of his safety.

When we live with our parents, majority of us don’t keep late nights because of the respect we have for our parents or because of the sort of person we are; so our parents especially the worrisome mothers are not used to us being away so late in the night. It shouldn’t then come as a surprise when the alarm clock in her head keeps ringing when she doesn’t see her child no matter how grown he/she is at home.

Being a parent, I now very much understand the feeling. No matter how uncomfortable it makes us, a parent and especially a mother’s love cannot be changed. Yes, like every other caring mother out there, I see myself worrying and calling his cell phone till he picks if he isn’t home before midnight!