Happy Dad
Hi. It’s me, again. Sorry, if it
took me a while to make a blog again. Time is not on my side for the past days.
My wife started her home-based job, and we need to balance our time. We are both
working during the night time. I work as a call center agent. My shift is at 7PM
to 4AM, while my wife is a home-based transcriber. Her work starts at 11PM and
ends at 7AM. She opted for that schedule so she can work quietly while the kids
are asleep. And as for me, we all know that the usual work schedule of a call
center agent is at night, so, there’s really not much of an option for me. So, you can just imagine how we cope up with
this schedule especially now we have 2 very
“makulit” and hyper boys. Now, we are both struggling to work this
schedule out, especially, having 2 very playful and hyper boys. We are still in the trial stage where I sleep
in the morning while my wife takes care of everything that’s needed to be taken
cared of since we do not have a yaya or a helper. And after lunch, when it’s “siesta”
time of our kids, she sleeps with them.
My wife and I, as much as possible,
want to be hands on when it comes to raising our kids. We have 2 very loving but “makulit” boys. Our
eldest is now 4 years old and our youngest is 2. At their age, we, as parents
need to give our 100% attention to them because this is the age where they are
so vulnerable. They easily learn and imitate things. They ask so many
questions. And this is also the stage where their personality is starting to
form. So, that’s why we make sure that
we are there during those times, the asking and the learning together times.
We
all know that it’s not an easy task, and that someone has to sacrifice. And
that someone is us, the parents. We can’t let our kids sacrificed by depriving
them of our time and attention. We make sure that atleast one of us is always
there if ever they have questions, if
they want to tell us something, if they
want to show us something that they built, which for them is a big
accomplishment, or just being there for them when they need a cuddle. And aside from those, we also want to see them
grow right before our very eyes. Because time flies fast, and the next thing we
know is they will be going to school already. If they start going to school, it’s
just a matter of years that they will be elementary, highschool, and college,
and then they’re off. They will have their own lives already. So, for now, we
wanted to spend every time that we have with them.
As a father and being the head of
the family, I also planned of working abroad, because my earnings are not
enough to sustain our needs. But after hearing feedbacks from my friends and
relatives who work abroad and being away from their families, I decided not to
do so. I was advised by one of my best buddies, a brother from our church, who’s
now working abroad to really think about it since I have 2 kids and they are
still quite young. He gave me an overview, the advantages and disadvantages of
being away from home. The only advantage he gave is the earnings. But if you
earn decently in working here, why bother working abroad where you’ll get
homesick and you’ll miss the most important part of your children’s life. You’ll
miss their firsts of everything, their first smile, first word, first steps,
and the list goes on and on. You’ll miss every milestone of your children,
which only happens once, and you cannot ever bring back the time. And that for
sure, money can’t buy.
With this, I convinced my wife that
there is not enough money to buy those things. And I read or hear stories from
some of our OFWs who have broken families and having disobedient kids. I know
that’s not always the case, but I don’t want to gamble the cons of being away
from my family.
I just wanted to share my personal
experience to you. And, I do hope that whoever follows me in this journey. I
just wanted to share my thoughts, and hoping that many of those who are
planning to leave their families just for securing their future should also be
considering the things that they will miss if ever they work abroad.
Thank you so much for your time
reading my blog. And if you find it interesting, please keep following me, and
also it will be more helpful and inspiring if you will also share it to your
friends. Thank you again and always be The Glory To God Almighty.
I mentioned on my previous blogs that I'm going to tackle
how OFW's cope up with their loneliness in working abroad.
Filipinos, in general, are happy people. We can easily
mingle and adapt to the environment around us. Foreigners find us very friendly, warm, caring, hospitable, and they easily feel comfortable with us. That's one
of the reasons why OFW's stand working in another land. Their loneliness can be
eased up with the way their employers treat them. Because most of our OFW's are
lucky to have a good employers who treat them as a member of their family.
Another point OFW cope up with the loneliness is that they
seek comfort from their fellow OFW's. They atleast meet up during their day offs to have fun, eat together - which Filipinos love doing. May it be a lavish
feast or just a simple picnic in the park.They also love being together,
spending time reminiscing and exchanging stories about their respective families
back home.
With the modern technology we have today, OFW's can ease
their loneliness through the internet. They can easily chat and see their love
ones using many kinds of apps that are readily available in the net. They are
easily updated with the lives of their families back home.
Now, working abroad is not a bad idea after all. It's not
just earnings money for your love ones for them to have a better and
comfortable life back home, It's also helping the economy of our country to
grow. That's our OFW's, unsung heroes.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, If you find
it worth sharing, it will be more appreciated. Please continue following me in
this journey, to know the hidden life of our OFW’s.
Next time, I will try to share some of the first-hand experiences of some of the OFWs I know, so it can give inspiration and ideas to those who are now working abroad and to those who are planning to work abroad.
Thank you. And again, to God be the Glory.
OFW...Unsung Hero
Hi, fellow
bloggers. My name is Art Siguan. I created this blog to find out more about the
life of an OFW. Like everybody else, I see them as a hero, not because they
provide for their families but also they help in the growth our economy.
Some people think that just because they’re working abroad, automatically, they have a luxurious life, but that’s not always the case.
Many of them are now fighting for their lives, may it be from sickness due to too much work, stress, or even physically abused or inhumanely treated by their employers.
Some are now fighting against time due to death penalties that are sentenced to them for the crime that they did not even commit or just simply by defending themselves.
But the ultimate sacrifice that all of our OFWs are experiencing is being away from their loved ones.
They struggled really hard to fight the loneliness of being away from their parents or even their children, the thought of not taking care of your own child and be there for every first moment of their lives are simply heartbreaking by itself.
Some people think that just because they’re working abroad, automatically, they have a luxurious life, but that’s not always the case.
Many of them are now fighting for their lives, may it be from sickness due to too much work, stress, or even physically abused or inhumanely treated by their employers.
Some are now fighting against time due to death penalties that are sentenced to them for the crime that they did not even commit or just simply by defending themselves.
But the ultimate sacrifice that all of our OFWs are experiencing is being away from their loved ones.
They struggled really hard to fight the loneliness of being away from their parents or even their children, the thought of not taking care of your own child and be there for every first moment of their lives are simply heartbreaking by itself.
But of course there’s always the other side of the story. The sacrifices that were made by our OFWs are rewarded by their family here back home specially if their children graduated or excel in school, or if the family that was left here was able to made good use of the hard-earned money that were sending.
Those are some of the things that an OFW abroad wanted to hear from their families here. After all, that’s what they’re there for.
On my next blog I will tackle things why our kababayans can cope up from the loneliness they feel being away from home. All suggestions and insights that are related to this article are always welcome. You can also send some interesting experiences so I can include them here. Thank you as always for taking the time to read this.
To GOD be the Glory.
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