LASTWORD
Mom’s Time Out
By Christopher Pang
What happens when the
woman in the household
disappears for a week
and the man takes over?
Christopher Pang pens
down his experiences after
his wife goes on an allexpenses-paid getaway,
leaving him in charge of
the children, all this with
cameras in the house
recording his every move!
WHEN my wife, Julie, and I were presented
with the opportunity to appear on Lifetime’s
new local production, Mom’s Time Out, I was
initially hesitant. Images of The Osbournes
and The Kardashians, with cameras in
their faces ALL THE TIME, and everyone
screaming at each other and flashing
their tonsils to the whole world, ran vividly
through my mind, and panic started to well
up in my throat. Granted we were nowhere
near the fame and fortune of these two
families, but I was near hyperventilation
at the thought of being on television
nonetheless. What would my mother say?!
Julie, on the other hand, was raring to give it
a go. She was looking forward to the allure
of an all-expenses-paid fiveday vacation with the other two
mothers who would go through
this experience together as she
needed the timeout.
After much discussion and thought, we barter
traded and compromised with her agreeing to
let me venture off on a fishing trip when she
returned home from my ordeal, I mean social
experiment.
When we learned we were selected as one of the
three families, the weight of how real the
entire situation was began to set in and I
eventually came to terms with it. I thought,
how tough can it be? These are, after all,
my children I was stuck with for a week.
I should have known better.
The moment Julie packed her bags and
left, I was immediately handed the dual
roles of Mother and Father. This meant
that I had to cook, clean, do the laundry,
feed the kids and ensure that I did not
burn the house down.
As an introvert who values my
privacy greatly, it took a while for
me to be comfortable with having
strangers in my house all the time,
and lights and cameras following
our every move and documenting
our every word.
As cliché as it sounds, I learned not
to take things for granted. Doing
the laundry and housekeeping,
while challenging, was a walk in the
park compared to when it came to
dealing with the children.
One of my first challenges at meal
time was when at an impromptu
birthday dinner with a neighbour’s
son, none of my three sons, fiveyear-old Matthew, nine-year-old
Michael and 12-year-old Marcus,
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Family & Life • Aug 2014
wanted to touch the pancakes I had painstakingly prepared
from the pre-packed box, much less eat it. I decided to lead
by example and took a bite, which I nearly threw up. So I fed
that to the dustbin instead of the kids.
I also learnt that bringing my three sons and their friends
out on a big field trip to the theme park is no small feat, but
what was important is that I got to spend time with them.
Given today’s hectic landscape in our cosmopolitan city,
it is getting increasingly challenging to juggle a career,
family and even individual growth. In some ways, Julie and
I are blessed with some sort of flexibility when it comes to
work and family; we run our own business together so we
have more pockets of time to spend with the boys. Being
part of this programme also reminded me that I had put
two important lessons on the back burner as I focused on
building the business and family with my wife.
First, the way we manage something when we have nothing
builds character in all of us. When Julie was away, I had
“nothing” in the aspect of help. It was all on my shoulders
to ensure that the household was run smoothly, and that my
children were safe, warm and fed.
Second, how we behave when we have everything is
sometimes lost on us. When Julie was around, she did the
housework, she cooked, she cleaned, she did all the laundry
and all that seemed insignificant to the kids and me, and it
was taken for granted. It’s human nature to do so, but it was
a humbling reminder and experience for me especially.
As fathers, I feel it is important that we need to consciously
work on our relationships – with our spouse and with our
children – and constantly think about how to keep the spark
going, the momentum moving and the love flowing. It is not
an easy ride, and no one ever said it was and will be. But
I think these are things that we really need to make extra
effort for and to make it work without taking it for granted.
Now, I just need to work on my pancake-making skills and
all will be perfect!
Mom’s Time Out, an original production by Lifetime,
premieres 28 August, Thursdays, 9pm on Starhub Ch 514.