Every day is mom’s day for Mama Juday

Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo (second from left) with husband Ryan and kids

When we caught up with actress Judy Ann Santos, she had just returned from a parents-teachers conference for youngest child Luna.

She explained that she had enrolled Luna, who’s only 2 years old, in the playschool because the kid “easily gets bored at home.” Throughout the interview, mom Juday would dish out gentle admonishments to Luna, who’s getting antsy, waiting for older siblings: Yohan, 13, and Lucho, 7.

“But Luna is easy to talk to,” Juday quipped. “She’s a good girl.” True enough, Luna calmed down upon hearing mom’s constant assurances that Yohan and Lucho would be back soon.

If there’s one thing she has learned about being a parent, after nine years of marriage with Ryan Agoncillo, it’s that you have to be flexible and patient—especially since the kids’ ages range widely and wildly, from the early teens to the dreaded terrible twos.

“If there’s any adjustment, it’s with Yohan who’s now a teenager, dalaga na (young lady),” she clarified. Juday is keenly aware that “there will come a time when you must be ready to listen to them talk about their problems.”

She’s bracing herself for that inevitability, which will bring a different set of challenges beyond daycare drama and soccer shenanigans.

Juday admitted that being a mother is a “tough job.” You’re on duty, 24/7.

“But I am very blessed,” she pointed out. “I have well-behaved children. I have a supportive husband. Also, there’s my staff and my mom who make sure our home runs smoothly.”

Every chance she gets, she reminds her kids just how fortunate they are that they’ve found “compassionate” coparents in their household staff. “When we pray at night, I always tell my kids to be thankful for our ‘angels’ at home.”

Her dependable staffers, she noted, allow her to juggle her daily commitments as mom, wife, daughter, actress and sometime cook and YouTube star (“Judy Ann’s Kitchen”).

An attitude of gratitude is a mindset she wants to inculcate in her kids, as well.

Every night, she engages her kids in “impromptu conversations,” she related. “Whenever I get the chance, I share with them little life lessons.”

She has realized that the kids become more interested when the questions come from them. “So I’ve learned to wait for them to open up. When they ask about something, I take the opportunity to share my thoughts on that topic. Sinasamantala ko talaga.”

By the way, the mom is a daughter, too.

She admitted that she is more appreciative of her own mother, Carol Santos, now that she’s a mom, too.

“I want my mom to enjoy life,” she quipped. “That was our deal when I asked her to return home after 13 years of working as a caregiver in Canada. I told her to travel every chance she can get, to live life to the fullest while she still can. I set aside a little something from my earnings for my mom’s trips abroad.”

Gabbing about her new role in Brillante Ma Mendoza’s Marawi film, “Maguindanaw” (formerly “Bayang Magiliw”), led her to this fitting Mother’s Day insight. “A mother’s job is to remain strong for the entire family,” she asserted.

In the indie movie that will be released next year, she portrays the wife of a soldier (played by Allen Dizon) who’s dispatched to fight in Marawi. Complicating matters, her character’s child also falls ill with cancer.

“She’s going through a lot,” she said of her latest screen incarnation. “As a mother, she has to keep her family together in spite of all these trials.”

Apart from the Marawi film and the YouTube cooking show, she will also headline a new ABS-CBN series, to be produced by Dreamscape. “It’ll be kid-friendly, as well.”

Juday considers herself lucky that the network bosses fully understand that family is her priority now. “I want to work, but I also wish to enjoy my life as mom and wife.”

Balance is key. “Having your own career is important, too, because you don’t want to lose yourself in the process of being a wife and mother.”

She needs her “me” time at the gym, for example, “to look good and feel good.” “I keep fit, not just for my husband, but for my health.”

Juday’s cup runneth over.