The Life of an OFW Children

Since when our country became poor and full of despair, our countrymen began to seek new lives in other countries to provide some support for themselves and their children. I myself experienced this because for atleast one month, my mother travelled to US because she is needed for an engineering project under her company. At those days while she was gone, I felt lonely and desperate seeking for a mother's love. Yes, my father was still there but a mother's love is still different from his'.

According to the article "The problem of enstrangement among OFW children" by Dr. Violeta “Bolet” Bautista of the Care and Counsel Wholeness Center, a parent's duty is a must and without it, it will affect a big part of the child's growing personality. Therefore, at least after they work there, they must contact or find a way to communicate with their children because it will serve abig role in part of that child's life. They should fill-in the absences of each time they spend for more than they need. She also stated that "Long distance communication between parents and their children has produced superficial relationships."This is due to the lack of time and presence of the parent to the eye of the child to the point that he or she is beginning to doubt if her/his parents could care more or less. She also added "How heartbreaking it is for a parent who has made so many sacrifices to come home to estrangement."

"When asked, 'Why are you going abroad?', OFW parents will almost always say that it is for their children. But many OFW parents are now finding out that their working abroad has seriously damaged their relationship with the very people whose interests they have gone abroad to serve."

In this case, the child will be eomtional throughout his/her life due to this huge problem they had to face in their lifehood. It cannot be replace once they felt that pain in their heart upon the reality of their family's future. They just have to accept the fact that it was a big role in their life because it is their parent's struggle they are dealing with. According to the article "Kids of OFWs prone to emotional problems" by Gerard Naval, children of OFWs are very prone to a lot of human problems. This may lead to some serious bad problems like alcoholism, drug addiction and other bad habits they might experience and also because of the influence of bad socialization due to the lack of parental guidance and care towards them. 

"Migration of one parent or both is a very painful time for children and cause bad emotions to stir up." she said.

On my experience, bullies in my former school have cases like these. Almost all of them are either their parents broken up or their parents were in abroad. I myself am sometimes consider it as a "karma" but still I can't help to feel sorry for their lives. I know it sounds pathetic but in this situation, it is not an excuse. Being an OFW is really hard. It takes a lot of guts to just leave your child with your other family members or to other people while they grow up not knowingly your love for them. No matter what you do, you still have to show care and support on her/his journey in life even if you weren't there for him/her.