I am a mother, and this is my vocation

Gabriel: "You haven't brought me out on a movie."

Me: "We've been to the movies too many times."

Gabriel: "But we're always with others, like your friends or my aunts and Lolo and Lola."

It struck me like a bolt of lighting. I was dumbfounded. It may seem over the top kind of reaction but it's true. You see, for the past weeks, I have been coaching other mothers like me on parenting, emphasizing on the fact that as parents, it is important for us to spend time with our children individually, exclusively, alone. I have been urging them to spend time with them on a date. Start with a date. Get to know them. Let them know that they're all that matters. Bringing them with you on errands, to the grocery or anything domestic like that is not what I call "a date". And that's exactly what I have been doing with my own son. Can you imagine.

And so today, I am a parenting coach to my own self. I take heed of my son's request and it's not just a petty request. It is something very important which could determine who he's going to be someday.

I am a mother. This is my vocation.