To You Who Isn’t A Mom Yet This Mother’s Day

Smart Parenting's PerSPective is our editorial team's take on the parenting and family issues today's Filipino families are facing. Through these opinion pieces, we as the country's leading parenting media brand hope to spark conversations and help fellow parents achieve our shared goal: to raise happy, healthy families.

It will be a celebration of sorts around you–your friends will be posting photos of bouquets from their husbands, or your cousins sharing photos of cute cards made by their preschooler kids. Your social media feed will definitely be full of “so blessed to be a mom,” and advertisements on the greatness of motherhood will flood your consciousness. 

And then it hits you, harder than it would on any day, that you are not yet a mother, that you’re the one who has not been given what many dare say is life’s biggest blessing, that game-changer in your family life. You question the heavens anew on why it is so hard to conceive, or why you lost something precious, or simply why can’t it be your turn, too. 

The pain may come in waves, or in trickles, and it will definitely hurt most on Mother’s Day. Whether you’ve been trying to conceive for years, had a miscarriage recently, or you are a single woman longing to find the love of her life, the idea of not ever having children may be a gut-wrenching thought. Know though, that you are not alone. 

'While this holiday appears to remind you of what you fear you lack, may you realize that you are strong, resilient, and full of love.'

In its April 2023 report, the World Health Organization said “around 17.5% of the adult population–roughly 1 in 6 worldwide–experience infertility, showing the urgent need to increase access to affordable, high-quality fertility care for those in need.”

While this holiday appears to remind you of what you fear you lack, may you realize that you are strong, resilient, and full of love, even in the midst of what can be a difficult and heartbreaking journey.

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Mother's Day may bring a mix of emotions for you, but I want to let you know that you are already a mother at heart. You have love to give and you have a motherly instinct that is present in all that you do. Your nurturing presence in the lives of children who need it most is already changing the world. Your womb or your arm may be empty today, but your heart is prepared for the best challenge yet.

This Mother’s Day, please celebrate too, for motherhood is not just giving birth—it’s the choice to open up your heart to something that could break you. In God’s time, may you find the answer and soon find out that the long wait is truly worth it. 

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Thea Alberto-Masakayan battled infertility for years following a PCOS diagnosis. She is now a mom to 5-yr-old Timmy, who is truly worth the long wait. She is Summit Media's Deputy Content Director.