I can empathise with his daughter's loneliness at home while he and his wife work and travel.

My parents divorced when I was 12 and my mother, who was awarded custody of me, often worked long hours when I was in my early teens. I remember spending long days and nights just waiting for her to come home so I could have some company. During those lonely days, I longed for someone to be there for me and envied my friends who came from large and intact families.

Although I did well enough in lower secondary school to enter a pure science class in Secondary 3, it was then I inexplicably rebelled against studying and my grades plummeted. It was only in the later half of Secondary 4, I realised the dire predicament that would await me should I fail to do well in my O levels. I pulled up my socks at the last minute and fortunately managed to get into a junior college.

Knowing how teenagers thirst for parental care and attention (even though they may not show it), I make sure my teenage daughter's needs come first. My husband travels frequently and I have opted to play a secondary role in my career so she does not lack parental attention.

I understand there are families whose circumstances require both parents to work in order to keep body and soul together. But there are many others in which both parents work long hours to satisfy unlimited wants. Perhaps if we can separate our needs from our wants, we can have more time to enjoy our children and they us.

Maria Loh Mun Foong (Ms)