A child knows.

Prior to having kids, I remember hearing news of little ones losing their parents or having one of their parents walking out of them. Whenever I hear these news, I remember thinking to myself what a relief that the child is so young (ie. 1-2y.o) as they still won't know anything yet vs a child who is 5y.o+.

Now that we have Zachariah in our lives, I realised how wrong I was to think of that. Ever since Z was about 9mths old, he would always be watching every step his parents walked. If I leave the room, he would crawl his way to find me. He knew who his parents were. Now that he's 18mths plus, his attachment to us have grown even stronger.

There are times when Mr M would walk out of the house to water the garden, little Z would chase after him before hearing a bang on the door (b/c Mr M had just closed the doors behind him to go out) and almost immediately you would hear Z crying for him. All of a sudden, Z's confidence disappears as he feels like his world has just crumbled into pieces because he thinks his daddy is not coming back. I would then need to comfort him & let him look out the window to assure him that his daddy is right there and that his daddy is not in any danger. His confidence & self esteem would then slowly be restored.

The other day while I was at the obs, the doctor decided to measure my blood pressure while Z was sitting opposite us on his daddy's lap. While the doctor was wrapping my arm, Z started to cry in hysterics. Suddenly he screams out 'mama!'. He was just so frightened to see this foreign act on his mummy performed by a stranger. He must've thought someone was trying to hurt me & therefore take his mummy away from him. Mr M had to comfort him & the doctor even had to stop what she was doing to assure him that his mummy was in safe hands. Then came the time when my doctor had to place the ultrasound on my belly. Once again, as soon as little Z saw this, he panicked & immediately started to scream & cry out 'mama mama!'. He thought the doctor must be trying to hurt me again. It was a very moving scene to watch.

Then today, our little one finally did something that totally moved our hearts. I had to go to work very early this morning and for once Z woke up not seeing his mummy in the morning to greet him. He woke up to see his baba and then realised his mama wasn't around & straight away called out 'mama mama'. He then walked around the whole house to look for me & of course I wasn't there. Finally, he walked into our walk-in-robe & pulled out one of my skirt down from the hanger & exclaimed to his daddy 'mama! mama!'. Mr M was so shocked to see for the first time just how much our little one had missed his mama. It was only when I got home that Mr M showed me the video which he had recorded of Z crying out for me. I was just overwhelmed.

Even at the tender age of 1.5y.o, little ones actually know when something around the house is not right especially when one of their parents is missing. Now, whenever I hear really sad news of parents who have passed away leaving behind their little family, my heart just feels even more sad for them especially knowing that many people will most likely have the misconception that the little ones won't know what's going on when deep down, they do.

Don't ever underestimate a child's knowledge of their surroundings especially within their own home. Their senses goes beyond just a feeling. It affects their self-esteem and determines what kind of man/woman they will ultimately become....