Why Is Motherhood So Lonely?
Young Parents Singapore|May 2018

As a busy mum of two, JESSICA LIM is never alone, yet she has never felt more lonely. What’s missing, she wonders.

Jessica Lim
Why Is Motherhood So Lonely?

It has been a puzzle of a morning. 

My son has progressed a level in swimming – a good thing. The only slot available for the new class coincides with his afternoon nap – a bad thing. Do we dare shift his nap back? Should we look for another swim school? Or should we stop the lessons?

My three-and-a-half-year-old daughter drinks three bottles of milk a day, too much by most paediatricians’ standards. We need a plan to wean her.

We have just bought a house and must carve out time to relook our savings plans. There are groceries to do, meals to plan and bills to be paid.

I am prioritising this mental to-do list as I sit in front of the dressing room table at 8am on a Thursday, applying make-up so I can look half-alive at work, with my son at my feet.

The two-year-old clambers onto my lap and grabs my lipstick. I now look like Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight.

My work e-mail box needs taming. I have a separate to-do list for work. The items on this list must be ticked off before noon – when I have to shuttle my daughter back from school.

My son pokes at a toy digger on the floor. I have a few minutes to indulge in the bad habit of browsing my Facebook feed.

I see photos posted by carefree friends on a weekend getaway in Hong Kong. I see the smiling faces at a wedding I wasn’t invited to. A mummy friend pulls out of our playgroup date. Her son is sick.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 2018 من Young Parents Singapore.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 2018 من Young Parents Singapore.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

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