Motherhood is beautiful and rewarding, but it is a tough 24/7 no-pay job done out of love and with lots of sacrifices.
Women have been blessed with the innate strength to shoulder a lot of responsibilities, which they carry out flawlessly and effortlessly; there by making motherhood look so darn easy. The downside is that it looks so easy that they may not be offered the assistance they really need; or more sadly, their efforts go unrecognized or under-appreciated by some men.
To the on-looking man, lugging around the weight of a clingy child while cooking, cleaning, or even hawking in the streets may seem like the easiest thing, until he finds himself in a situation that let’s him experience it firsthand.
“Erm… mothers how do you do it? How?! How do you cope?”, asked Facebook user Dotun Fadairo, who was babysitting his tired and sleepy nephew. “Just a few minutes with my nephew and I feel like someone attached a leech to every vein in my body…I taya!”
In his honest  Facebook post, he described how he was drained from the stress of it all. His arm muscle had started “singing deep songs of protest”, and wearing his nephew on the back with a good old wrapper, wasn’t quite the jolly ride he might have imagined.
He pointed out that people feel more empathy towards other people’s situation, when they actually walk in their shoes.
Hmmm…dear reader you know, nothing beats putting yourselves in the shoes of others and I can tell you this, mums and women in general have BIG ASS feet. This thing they do na work o! (it is work!) worthy of pay and all the praise (and help) you can possibly give. So man, the next time you think you’re the “real worker” cause you go to an office from 8-5 while she just “stays home and plays with the kids” just know that you are dulling yourself. Receive small sense and appreciate your mum and or the mother of your kids.
Oops! It seems he hit a nerve with that one, because the post caused quite a stir, with some women jokingly scrambling for wifey and side chic positions in the young man’s life.
“I don’t know you, but if I find you, I’ll marry you!! If you are already married, I’ll be your sidechick! wink”, commented one enthusiastic fan.
“He’s single o. Me sef I want to marry him. OK, let’s share. You’ll be the first wife and I’ll be the second. Deal?” replied another.
The ultimate self-proclaimed wife came in to shut down the place and secure her territory, saying  “Me ayam not side chick. Ayam wife and I wii nor accept any ‘strange woman’ that tries to interfere in our union”.
The scramble was on!
As hilarious as that was, it shows that Nigerian moms have been severely starved of appreciation. The fact that women are able to shoulder many responsibilities effortlessly and without complaints, does not mean it should be taken for granted.
A compliment here and there, encouraging words, and even a little helping hand will be highly appreciated, and handsomely rewarded too, if you catch my drift, wink!
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Source: Dotun Fadairo/Facebook
