Mum, Mum, I Love You! Winners of Mother’s Day Tribute Contest
Residents, we know how much all of you love your mums. The number of tributes and photos that we received in May for our Mother’s Day contest was proof of that!
Most of you spoke about the boundless and selfless love that your mothers showered you with, the lessons she taught you, and the sacrifices she made (and continues to make) for you. Some of you also shared that your mums are your best friend.
Here’s what inspired our top 3 winners to pay a special tribute to their mums.
Kelly Kuah (Chua Chu Kang)
Eleven-year-old Kelly decided to take part in the contest not so much for the prize, but because she wanted to take the opportunity to thank her mum, Jasmine Kang.
She took a day to plan and another day to write. After submitting her entry, she gave the tribute letter to her mum on Mother’s Day. Mama Jasmine was touched and proud that she wrote it all by herself.
Kelly shared that she chose to focus on the morals and values that her mother taught her as she felt that is where her mother differs from other mums who focus a lot on academic results.
“She tends to scold me because of my other mistakes, but not because I didn’t score well… I would like to say that I am thankful to my mother for bringing me into this world and for guiding me into the young lady that I am today,” said Kelly.
Highlights from Kelly’s tribute to mum, Jasmine Kang
Even though you taught me about school and how to be a better person, I think that you focus more on teaching me how to be a better person and teaching me good morals. Every time I do something wrong, you will sit down and patiently tell me what I did wrong and what virtues I did not display.
After every lesson about good morals, you tell me that inside all of us, we have a moral compass that points us in either the right way or the wrong way, and that it is easier to go the wrong way than the right way. You also tell me that you are not going to be with me forever to point my moral compass in the right way, that I need to point my moral compass in the right way.
To me, these lessons that you teach me about morals are more important than the academic ones. They teach me about the importance of being good.
Shreya Venkatesharan (Bukit Gombak)
Unlike most teenagers, Shreya keeps no secrets from her mother, Rati Kishore. In fact, she said her mum is her best friend in the world.
There is nothing that she will not confide in her mum. In fact, this 13-year-old said that her friends are aware that if they share something with her, her mum would also get to know about it.
Shreya added what’s so amazing about her mother is that she does not judge. She listens to all of Shreya’s teenage problems and angst, and tells her how to deal with them.
Shreya kept her submission to this contest a secret and read the tribute to her mum 2 days after Mother’s Day. Her mum was touched and said it does not matter whether they win the photo shoot. So Shreya said this win will be the icing on the cake.
Highlights from Shreya’s tribute to mum, Rati Kishore
For me, my mother is special for many reasons. First of all, my mother is my friend… I tell her about my weird teenage crises, and she always listens and helps me through tough times. She never fails to make me laugh either. Always helping me and ready to make sacrifices to see a smile on my face.
My mother is the bravest and most selfless person I know. She deserves the best Mother’s Day ever.
Since the addition of my 2-year-old brother, my mother spoke about how much she wanted to have a family photo shoot. I know that if I win, this will be the best Mother’s Day present she has ever had.
Joyce Wee (Chua Chu Kang)
Joyce was so piqued by the Mother’s Day contest that she rode the lift up and down twice just so she could read more about it.
Coming from a typical non-demonstrative Chinese family, she has never openly told her mum how much she loved her. Neither has she ever written a tribute to her mum. She decided, this year is as good a time as any.
As Joyce had felt unwell recently, her mother invited her to move back to the family home. Joyce said it was ironical to be moving back to be taken care of by her parents instead of her doing so to care for them in their old age.
Her mother has not read Joyce’s tribute as she does not understand English, and Joyce said she is such a cry baby herself that she’s not sure she will be able to read it to her mum without shedding any tears.
Since they last took a family portrait at least a decade ago, she said having one taken now would be timely as her family has since expanded to include her siblings’ spouses and their three children.
Highlights from Joyce’s tribute to mum, Khang Ah Geok
Mum has always been very dedicated to our family and places us above everything else.
When we were young, we were not well-to-do and eating out was always a luxury. I always remembered my brother and I enjoying KFC while mum looked at us lovingly.
To make that happen occasionally, Mum did all kinds of odd jobs at home while looking after three of us, from sewing clothes labels to gluing paper bags or babysitting for neighbours.
When we got to our teenage years, she began saving for our education and started a hawker stall selling ‘kueh’ and had to wake up at 2am every day…
Even when we became adults, our food cravings, wants and needs were almost always instantly granted whenever we casually mentioned them to her…
Thank you, Mum, for your unconditional lifetime of love. You are the best mum anyone could wish for.