Tag: singaporean mum

Her pride shows when she humble brags about us to her friends and her love shows through the incessant nagging at us to sleep earlier and eat on time. Yet these are things that we finding embarrassing and annoying. Then, there’s that one uniquely-Singaporean trait in our mums that we can’t decide whether we hate or love. Being auntie. This Mother's Day, we share our love for our mums by appreciating the super auntie things they do as a Singaporean mum.

1. Gossiping

Even with social media, we can hardly keep up with all our friends getting hitched and having babies. It’s amazing how our mum knows about the neighbour’s sister’s friend’s daughter's migrating overseas. Not forgetting the iconic way they speak when they share such juicy news, “I tell you ah, my ah girl ah…”

2. Taking Or Asking For Free Stuff

Dabaoing the unused utensils and butter spread from airplane meals, keeping the serviettes and wet tissues at restaurants, and eating the free samples at food fares, our mothers do them all, and proudly. As auntie as those behaviours are, some of us do them too. There are also the very thick-skinnd mums who would tell the waiter that it’s her birthday and go, “got anything free or not ah?” At least we get to enjoy free stuff, I guess.

3. Choping Seats

It can be hard to find seats during rush hour on the MRT and at hawker centres, but our mums seem to have eagle eyes. They also have the power of making us want to disown them when they rush to the vacant seats, pat the seat, and shout our name out amidst the crowd of onlookers.

4. Complaining

If you got cheated by the hawker and only got bones in your chicken rice, trust your mum to make a trip to the stall and give them a teaching. You may even get free chicken rice on your next trip. Whether it’s the little things like that or bigger things like being bullied in school or work, your very auntie mother will complain until you get your grievances addressed.

5. Picking Out The Best Of Things

She would remove all the styrofoam netting from the fruit before putting it in the plastic bag because not only can you see if the fruit is good, it weighs lighter and thus, is cheaper. She’d dig into the supermarket shelves to get products that are deeper in because of the expiry date, especially when she’s stocking up during the promotion period. Very auntie and very embarrassing, but very fruitful.

6. Share Fake Or Passé News

Food to eat to defeat cancer, random philosophical quotes from famous people whose names we don’t even recognise, or fake health scares, our mums tend to fall for such stories circulating online and on WhatsApp. What’s more embarrassing is when they share them in the family group chat. Or when they excitedly show us a video they just saw and we realise that it was something that trended more than 5 years ago. Mum, this one long ago see already.

7. Doraemon Bags

Our mums tend to have everything in their bags and can magically whip out anything we need when we need it. Dry tissue, check. Wet tissue, check. Umbrella, check. Some mums even bring medicine everywhere they go, so if we suddenly have a stomach-ache after eating that tom yum hot pot, fret not, momma’s got charcoal pills.

8. Loyalty And Membership Cards For Everything

Besides all the things mentioned above, the auntie-mother starter pack cannot do without an NTUC card or any other equivalent loyalty cards for supermarkets, grocery stores, or pharmacies like Watsons and Guardian. Sometimes, they surprise you with cards to the most random of shops, like a neighbourhood salon card or stamp cards dessert stores.

Love Your Very Auntie Mum

We cringe at our mum’s auntie moments but as we grow older, we start to realise how much such 'annoying' habits of theirs are things we remember them endearingly by. All those little things they do are exactly what make them that irreplaceable woman in our life. What other auntie things do your mum do? Share them with us in the comments! (Header Image Credit: Wheniwasfour) Also read, These 14 Heartwarming Stories Show That A Mother’s Love Is Like No Other.
Have you ever felt paiseh from the way your mom shows her love to you? We have. When we were kids, we may not have realised the significance of the things our moms did for us. Now that we're older, we realise their love comes in many forms, from the biggest of sacrifices to the simplest of actions--even those that make us feel super paiseh.  From embarrassing us on Facebook to pronouncing things their own unique way, here are some heartwarming (and slightly embarrassing) moments these Singaporeans shared with their moms. *Some names have been changed for privacy reasons.

1. She’ll pout if I don’t hug her

She makes me hug her every day before I leave for work. If I don’t, she’ll pout and say: “Come back, never hug.” – Tyler Kor, 27

2. She calls me ‘bao bei’ in public

I’m already 30 this year, but my mom still calls me “bao bei” (Mandarin for ‘precious’) in front of people. It’s quite embarrassing but I know she means it as an endearment. – Roger, 30

3. She is very thick-skinned when it comes to discounts and freebies

My mother always asks for discounts and freebies because she wants to give us good food and freebies to try. Sometimes, even when the shop staff already said there’s no discount or freebies, she will still ask. Very malu! Also, when ordering food outside, she will ask for less oil, less sweet, and less salt over and over again. I know she does this for our health though. – Daphnie, 25

4. She likes to ‘expose’ the un-demure side of me

My room is always super messy and it’ll leave you wondering if I’m a guy living in a girl’s body. My mom always complains to my friends about my messy room. She even teases me about how she’ll reveal my un-demure side to my future boyfriend. I don’t have the guts to show anybody how bad the state of my wardrobe is but whenever there are guests in our house, my mom will ‘expose’ me and show it to them. So embarrassing! But I guess that’s her way of caring, since my messy room worsens my bad sinus. – Shi Shyan, 26

5. Her pronunciation of words is really cute

My mom pronounces ‘GB’ (gigabytes) as ‘Gib’, which isn’t wrong, but it’s wrong! She also says things like “later I apps you where we are” in reference to texting on Whatsapp, which I find really cute. – Mel, 27

6. She will ‘chope’ MRT seats for me

My mom will rush into trains and head straight for the seats and if it so happens that there’s an empty seat beside hers, she will put her hand on that seat to ‘chope’ it. Then, she will pat the seat as she waves at me and calls me to sit down. In front of staring eyes in the cabin, it’s actually very malu but I know she just wants me to rest, because I get tired easily from standing. – Bling, 26

7. She always tries to matchmake me with my friends

She will always try to matchmake me with friends I bring over. For example, there was once when I invited some close friends over for my birthday. One of whom is this girl who is very fair - a trait I think my mom likes. She started helping my mom to clean up after we ate. Obviously, my mom took a liking to that and in front of both that girl and me, my mom said that she will make a good girlfriend. Facepalm! – Li Wen, 21

8. She yells for my attention when I’m on the line

Whenever I'm on a phone call with my boyfriend, my mom will keep yelling for my attention, complaining about the untidily placed shoes, unwashed clothes and how dishes were left for to her wash, etc. Very embarrassing! – Xiang Ying, 29

9. She will walk around with a half-eaten chicken thigh

Having grown up in a time where having meat to eat was a luxury, my mom doesn't like wasting food--especially meat. If she cannot finish her food, she will tabao it home. One time, she couldn't finish her nasi padang, so she asked to tabao the chicken drumstick. We went shopping after that, so she walked around with this clear plastic bag with a chicken drumstick inside the whole time. – Yi Yang, 26

10. She’ll think that my girlfriend and I often ‘do things’ behind closed doors

Whenever my girlfriend is around, my mom will always knock on my room door and wait for a long time before opening it, or she’ll wait till we open it for her even though we shout that it’s ‘safe’ to come in. She does this 'cause she wants to give us privacy and doesn’t want to walk in on us ‘doing anything’. Little does she know that her doing that kind of makes it even more awkward sometimes. – Jay, 26

11. She likes to forward photos of me to her friends on Whatsapp

She likes to show me off in front of her friends and on Facebook. She always asks me to send her pictures of myself. She will then forward these pictures to her multiple Whatsapp groups. And she always tells me that her friends want to matchmake me with their sons. I feel so paiseh sometimes! – Zaf, 27

12. She calls me ‘sweetie’ and ‘cutie pie’ on Facebook

She likes to call me pet names on Facebook, like 'princess', 'daddy's girl', 'sweetie', and 'cutie pie’. I don’t know if she knows people can see her comments but she never stops. Also, when I was younger, my mom would get jealous when I talked to my dad. Even now, she’s a bit sensitive but it's a lot better already. – Natasha, 26

Share Your Love!

What are some of the silly things your mom does that you find quite endearing? Share them with us in the comments! Also read, S’poreans Confess The Dumbest Things They Believed As Kids – Thank God We Know Better Now.