Bye Mom! Bye Dad! (See You When I Grow Up)
October 9th, 2011 | 
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Little Sarah* is 3 years old. Unlike little girls her age, she can not talk sensibly yet. She can mumble phrases, but none, not even her nanny, understands what she is trying to say. It could be speech delay. We, however, sense more than that, the girl has no eye contact and no concept of things, she just mimics. So we talked with her mom.
We found out that mom and dad are both overseas contract workers and at the time of Sarah’s enrollment with us, they were only on vacation. As per our recommendation, mommy, a registered nurse, had Sarah checked. The pediatrician said it was not just speech delay (as what we have sensed) and she recommended therapy.
I personally believe, however, that Sarah needs more than that. She needs parents more than anything else. But when we asked mommy if it’s not possible for her to stay with the little girl, she said it isn’t and that she really had to continue working abroad.
Yesterday, we received an overseas call from Sarah’s mommy. She’s been back abroad for 2 weeks now and was checking how Sarah was coping. What saddened us was her reluctance to have Sarah undergo therapy. She still believes that the girl was fine and that she only needs exposure to other children. I believe otherwise. If the pediatrician said she needs therapy, and I guess she really needs it 
Our children are kids only once, if we miss their childhood altogether, there’s no way to make up for the lost time because they will NEVER BE kids again..
*not real name
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Very Nice Article,.. i like it
tama..minsan lang maging bata..enjoy ang pagiging bata..
ito nga ung realidad ng buhay sa ngayon, a nurse working abroad to take care of others when the immediate family more than needs her TLC.
I totally agree with you…Ako nga pinapanalangin ko na lang na sana mag-freeze nlang ang anak ko sa ganitong age…Hay….we just love our children so much!
Oh, this is such a heartbreaking story! I’m an OFW, too, but never in my wildest dream to leave my kids to anyone even my closest relatives in that very crucial developmental stage. In my opinion, it’s not very harmful to leave them once they are at least 7 years old. I left my 2nd child at almost 6 and my eldest at 7 but to their own dad and we saw each other every end of the semester and we are with each other the entire summer and Christmas holidays. Now, I do the same thing with our “pahabol na baby”, who is now 2 years and 5 months. No matter how much we sacrifice to pay an expensive nanny, hubby and I would never compromise his normal development with us, his parents. We are thankful to God for helping us make both ends meet when our 2 kids are studying in there in Pinas as education here is quite expensive. You might have read about my previous post.
I’m thinking of using this case in my next Health & Home article if you won’t mind, will you? This is to help many OFWs and OFWs-to-be in their decision-making. In your story here, I never thought that a nurse who has studied about Human Growth, Learning and Development would prioritize earning money than the immediate need of her own child to grow as a normal and productive individual.
Thanks for stopping by my post and I’m returning the favor here with all excitement as you have very interesting posts. I’ve got a new post, too.
I am saddened with the story. This article should be read by other parents who think that way. Sigh.
“Our children are kids only once, if we miss their childhood altogether, there’s no way to make up for the lost time because they will NEVER BE kids again..” <– so yes to this!
This story saddens me, but I learned a lot. My Husband is also an OFW, he was away for 10mos, he left when our baby was less than a month old, it was a hard move, but we can’t do anything about it. While the Husband and I decided that I won’t get any job that would make me miss every second of my son’s growing development. We survived the 10 mos, we then now decided to look for a job here in the Phils so we can both enjoy our baby’s childhood in everyway we both can.
I agree that Little Sarah needs more of mother’s affection than of that therapy. My hubby prefer to raise our family intact here in the Philippines and I believe we can. Money can temporarily buy happiness but not pure affection and love.
This is a very touching story. I hope the little girl’s parents will realize what they really missed…
It is really tragic that Sarah will grow up that way because of the absence of both her parents. Probably it was best that only one works abroad and the other takes care of their kid if they cannot bring the girl in their workplace abroad. Thanks for the post. God bless you always.