一个男人要顾家
(on hindsight, upon completing this post, I realised I meant 一个男人要管家. But it sounds a bit weird)
Do you look after your family? Do you show care for your family?
From being a latch-key kid who had almost ZERO parental monitoring, I was primed for big-time trouble as I entered teenage-hood. I was mixing with the wrong crowd and picking up the wrong habits.
It is by the grace of God that I entered a mission school (which was actually my second choice) and became a Christian in Sec 1.
I began to attend the church youth fellowship and for the first time in my life, there was a group of peers and seniors who showered me with attention and affection. I see them consistently on a weekly basis and spent most of my weekends with them. They gave me advice on how to change my bad habits. They actually cared about the various aspects of my life. Not just how I was in church, but also how I behaved as a student, outside of school, and at home. I see most of them in school as well since they are my seniors in the same school. They became my role models whom I look up to when I needed to discern right from wrong. There were also adult figures in the church fellowship who taught and guided us and will not hesitate to reprimand us gently if we did wrong. I vividly remembered being spoken to when I carelessly uttered vulgarities during one of the church outings.
For once, I had people in my life who showed care and concern about every aspect of my life.
For the first time, 有人管我. I felt that I MATTERED and as a growing teenager, that was very important in my search for my identity at that point in my life.
你顾家吗？
你关心家人吗？
As of today, we are currently MAID-less.
We just sent our domestic helper home to Indonesia after her contract is up. We actually tried to talk her out of it as the COVID situation in her hometown is still uncertain but she missed her family too much. So she's gone, and our new helper can't come in just yet as apparently there is a loooooooong queue for FDWs to enter Singapore.
Thus, the woman of the house came up with a roster with the kids to decide who does what chores on a daily / weekly basis. Everyone is on semi-holiday mood since the holidays are coming which means there is very little homework, no upcoming tests / exams or extra school activities for the next 1.5 months. Somehow, every one readily signed the 'contract'. It's a scam, kids. The new auntie may only come in May 2022. Good luck.
And since the papa was relatively free last Sunday, I volunteered to wash the dishes, mop the floor and taught my eldest how to hang the clothes. The kids were giggling and commenting 'Wah, never see papa mop floor before!' When we did grocery shopping in the evening, I volunteered to cook one dinner next week. Again the kids giggled 'Wah papa COOK????'
It made me realise a fact. The kids had never seen papa do household chores before. Ever since no.2 came, we made the decision to engage a FDW. We were very clear that the helper will be here to do household chores and serve the adults, so that the adults can have the time and energy to be with the kids. Papa comes home from work, shower, and play with them, eat dinner, play some more / do reading, put kids to bed, and laze on the sofa...... In their memory, they have not seen papa in action at home. Maybe the occasional change of light bulb or shifting of heavy furniture at home. But never the consistent tasks of cooking, washing, ironing, mopping etc.
I wondered if the kids have been thinking if 爸爸顾不顾家？It‘s an apt time for me to show my care for them DOMESTICALLY 😊 Thus I am officially appointed to be the IRON.MAN for the household.
一个男人要养家
一个男人要顾家
“For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?” 1 Timothy 3:5