(By Rae Dawn B. Maestrado)
IT’S A WORD I’ve come across during my routine internet scrolling. I remember the caption saying something like “Safe ka nga sa teenage pregnancy pero ‘Titang Ina’ ka naman.”
I’ve never related so much with a short video. Babysitting is fun you see, until the baby cries or when your toddler throws a fit. I tell you, it’s so hard to contain your teenage parental rage once you see the kid throwing daggers with their eyes or worse, when they scream at you.
I swear, all the “Gipakaon tika and gi-atiman tika ug tarong unya mao ra ni imong i-balos?” sentiments flood in like clockwork and you feel entitled to punish them however you like because, well, you’re angry.
So, you scream back and carefully pick words that would hurt them. Or you go with the classic whipping because that’s the old way of doing it right?
I tell you, it’s not worth it. You’re hurting the kid and you’re hurting yourself. I realized this because during my emotional sessions with my cute mischievous nephew, a glitch of my rational senses came back admonishing me, “Hey, you shouldn’t do that to the kid.” And it’s true. No matter how much punishment you impose, it won’t satisfy you nor solve anything. You just feel like a failure and a terrorizer in the end.
It’s sincerely hard to take on a parental role at an early age especially when you have no prior experience and preparation. It’s a human being we’re raising here! The way we conduct their upbringing is not to be taken lightly because what we do today will affect them forever. We should know best because we were kids once.
I know I’m only a Tita, but it takes a village to raise a kid. So, whether I like it or not, I must take on some parental responsibilities because that’s just my luck. I have been vocal about my complaints before, but what can I say? A girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do: (Ti)tang Ina.
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The logs by the roadside
When I arrived in my parents’ house in mid-September, I saw the logs of the weeping willow mercilessly felled by Odette, together with logs from cut grown palm trees. I thought of rearranging some like the farm and cabin logs I frequently see in movies. Oh yes, I am an avid movie viewer. So, I did, and was satisfied with my work.
On the first week of my stay, I noticed diverse types of vehicles ranging from heavy fuel tanker trailers to light cars parked by the roadside immediately beside our fence and I must say it bothered me. I didn’t feel it right that they park there nor find it safe that they do. I kept wondering why they do it. There must be something that attracts them to the spot!
And so, we investigated and found out that there is an eatery located beside the Acacia tree right before the head office of the bank right across the house – if you drive from the city. So that’s the attraction!
Being the choleric that I am, I was contemplating on the best possible course of action to bar them from parking beside our fence. Should I put a sign? Will they honor it? Should I call on them while they eat? I had such thoughts.
Since I still had plenty of tasks to do transitioning from one city to another, I set aside the irritant for the time being to focus on the more important tasks. Right, follow the time quadrant as always.
Then two weeks back, after assessing the situation one more time, I decided I’ve had enough of the irritant and carried the weeping willow logs – with Liezel – to the road, positioning them strategically beside our fence, thereby barring any vehicle from parking from that day onwards. That was Carlos P. Garcia day, November 4th.
It works! Beginning that day, vehicles no longer park beside our fence! They park, still by the roadside, but right across the house. Thank you, the logs worked!
For generous measure, I deliberately left space for one vehicle to park towards the end of our fence so the driver can straddle between two properties.
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Writer hosts Woman Talk with Belinda Sales at 91.1 Balita FM Tagbilaran City every Saturday, 4:00-5:00 PM. She can be reached at belindabelsales@gmail.com. Twitter @ShilohRuthie./PN
