She is mother, father, and dragon boater

She is mother, father, and dragon boater

SINGAPORE - She is 50, fit and both father and mother to her two children.

"I attempt to compare my own family with another family, and they have two parents and all," said Mazlina Mazlan, 22, "but I think she does a good job in handling both the mother and the father role."

Madam Mazni Abdullah and her then-husband divorced in 2000. Right from the start, she was determined to make it work as a single mom.

She took up a diploma in Business Management to better her skills and got a better job, juggling work in the day and taking care of her two children at night. But Madam Mazni always made sure she had time for herself.

"You exercise and you feel more confident and you feel good about yourself, and you become a better person and a better mother," said Madam Mazni, 50.

Two and a half years ago, she picked up dragon boating. These days, she is a competitive paddler with the British Dragons and has competed in eight races since she joined in January last year.

"They come to watch me race and things like that. Sometimes on a race days, which are on Saturdays and Sunday," shared Madam Mazni. "We kind of have a potluck on Sundays, and my daughter will help me to prepare for it and you know, things like that, and he (her son) will come and deliver the food. That is one of the things on how we bond together," said Madam Mazni.

"It's good that she has an activity to call her own," said her daughter, Mazlina.

"She is definitely happier when she is exercising... she is quite grumpy when she doesn't exercise," she adds with a laugh.

"Now being a mother can be very tough," said her son, Amri Mazlan, 25, "because like 50 years old, woah, she can do stuff."

And Madam Mazni is not planning to slow down.

"Being a mother is a 24 hour job," Madam Mazni said, "Yes, you want to give everything you've got for your family and your children - your loved ones. But it is also important to find something that you love to do, like what she (Mazlina) said - something that you call your own.

"Find that passion and stick to it... because it makes you a better person."

This was transcribed from The Straits Times' video.


Get the full story from The Straits Times.

[[nid:107678]]
This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.