You Got Mad Courage: The Story of a Young Mother
Wake up. Make breakfast. Drive the kids to school. Work. Pay the bills. Buy groceries. Pick the kids up from school. Make them lunch. Help them with their homework. Make dinner. Put them to sleep. Set the alarm. Start all over again.
Being a mother is a full time ordeal. And like any other job, some days you don´t even want to get out of bed. But Claudia genuinely loves being a mom despite all the challenges. She gave birth to her first child, Ariana, when she was only seventeen, only two years after arriving to Jackson from Tlaxcala, Mexico. Thirteen years later, she is a mother of three (now 14, 7 and 4). Raising a child as a teenager was not a simple feat, she confesses.
“You compare things and realize that at 17, you are not mature enough to raise a child. You´ll always love them, but maturity is something you only learn through time and experience.”
Even now, juggling a full time job and raising three kids as a single mom wasn't part of Claudia´s plans. Two years ago, she went through a painful separation with her partner, which took a major toll on the relationship with her children.
Seeking clarity, Claudia´s eldest daughter joined Cuenta Conmigo, a space where she could vent and share her frustrations with her peers. Claudia was skeptical. Who were these people her daughter was seeking out for help? Why hadn’t she come to her own mother? She decided to investigate what Cuenta was all about… And she’s glad that she did. It ended up being one of the best decisions she ever made.
“I was in a very bad place. If I smiled, it was fake. I felt obligated to pretend so children wouldn't see my sadness. Cuenta Conmigo made me realize how shallow and false that was. With time, I changed my ways. I stopped shouting; I started communicating better with my children. Not even therapy did that for me. It was so nice to simply sit and listen to the stories of other mothers… To find out that I wasn’t alone.”
Today, Claudia is content. She´s learned to live by a few simple rules: have the courage to wake up everyday for those three special reasons (her children), be happy for their sake and take one day at a time.
“I may not be the perfect mom and I´m not always 100%, but I´m moving forward and I depend on myself for that. I think I learned that from my own mother. My children suffered a lot during my separation, but I think today they are healthy and at peace, and that´s all that matters.”
If she could have one wish for Mother´s Day, it would be to not to worry about anything and to spend one whole day enjoying her children.
