Be My Guest Contest Entry

The most memorable thing I have done with my son is to actually go for a mini staycation with him when he was around 5 years old.

I had always been the type of mother who needed a breather from my son every now and then. While some mothers cannot bear to leave their children for more than a few hours at a time, I, on the other hand, could not bear to face my son and spend time with him non stop. It was not that he was ill behaved, neither was it that I did not love him. We spend a lot of time together on a daily basis but I just feel like I need the breather from the heavy burden of motherhood every now and then. Even when my husband got stationed overseas, I would often leave my son with my mother and go out to have some “ME” time away from my son.

A friend booked a room in the MBS but had last minute cancelled out. She asked if I would be interested to stay in MBS for a night FOC. Since I was free, I decided to go on the staycation with my son. It was our first holiday together. Alone! For more than 24 hours! I have never spent more than 24 hours alone with my son before.

I was a little apprehensive but  excited. We took the MRT to Marina Station and walked over. The long walk meant we had a lot of chance to do all those sort of touristy things like taking pictures of the beautiful scenery around us, posing in front of the Ferrari store.  It gave us a chance to really talk and hold a heart to heart conversation as well.

After checking in to a beautiful room, we decided to visit the Sky Garden and do some swimming. Alas, we were told it is closed due to bad weather. My son then discovered the jacuzzi pool and we spent a good 15 minutes there before it started to rain.

No rain could dampen our increasingly joyous holiday mood. We were determined to enjoy ourselves anyway and so we decided to continue having fun back in our room.. in the bathtub! We had such an enjoyable bubble bath together, playing with bubbles and scrubbing each other’s backs.
 

Thank god the weather was good the next day so we still got to spend some time in the pool. And what did my son want to do before we check out?

“Can we do bubble bath again?” He said it was his favourite part of the trip. And so we did.

It was the first time I spent such a long time alone with my son and we had so much fun. That trip was a turning point for me as we started to learn how to be great companions and friends and how to spend more time together without me feeling like I was suffocating under the burden of motherhood.

PS: When I asked my son to write about HIS most memorable experience with me, I was pleased to find that he remembered this special day fondly too.

Here is what he says...