Moms finish eating last due to extra chores, says woman who watched man shout at wife in public

Christine Koh, a Singaporean woman who works at the Ministry of Education, was stunned when a man admonished his wife for eating slowly while they were eating out in public. Koh watched the incident unfold as the man stormed off, leaving the woman to eat alone in silence with all the attention firmly on her at the food court. Koh wrote about the incident on Facebook and called for people to be more sensitive to women, who usually take up the role of the caregiver in families. Koh explained that she was probably eating slowly because women put their families before them and are often running the house. "Today I saw a hubby questioning his wife angrily (in front of everyone in the food court) because he couldn't understand why his wife was always so slow in eating," wrote Koh. "The reason for his anger and frustration was because he no longer could handle both a baby in a carrier and a wailing toddler. Though the wife did not reply to her hubby, you can tell that there was sadness through her eyes. Eventually, the hubby stormed off with the 2 kids, leaving the wife sitting there quietly to eat her dinner."

"I felt so bad that I asked my 2 little apples if they ever wondered why a mother will always be the last one to leave the house and the last one to finish eating when both the hubby and kids are already done with it. Usually, when we are going out, without fail, everyone will be waiting outside the house while I will be seen frantically trying to pack the 101 things before I dash out of the house. Why am I always the slowest? I usually neither dress up nor do make-up. I actually spend about an average of 10 mins on getting myself ready but an hour to get both my kids ready, including packing for them and my hubby," she wrote. She called for more empathy from men.

Koh added that women have to focus on a million things to ensure everything is done while stepping out. "A mother is also usually the one who will subconsciously take the initiative to take on the role of feeding the kids so as to make sure all her loved ones are fed first before herself. So to answer the hubby who posted this question to his wife, the reason why mothers are always the slowest is because we love our family so much that we will never put ourselves before our family," she wrote. "You probably cannot change the fact that your wife is always the slowest but you can change your perception to be more understanding of this love that a mother/wife has for our family which we can never compromise." Koh added that she was hoping men and women would help break traditional gender roles in a household but added that men needed to empathize more even otherwise.

Many women wrote positive messages beneath the post because they could relate to it. After many people accused her of directing towards the man, she added that wasn't her intention and called for more empathy for everyone. "I had wanted to highlight how mothers often find themselves in sticky situations because in the grand scheme of how things unfold, their needs are often overlooked or met much later than their loved ones. My post does not paint the full picture. This has struck a chord with many of us simply because rage is real and does not discriminate. It has happened to the best of us, including me," wrote Koh. “I decided to write this reflection post to share with my own circle of friends in the bid to help us give more appreciation and patience to mothers (or even fathers) who are always seen gasping for time to rush out of the house after everyone,” Koh told Bored Panda.