I've recently been having lots of conversations with girlfriends who are mothers of one or two children, about being a working mum.

Out of five friends, I count only one who is close to a stay-at-home mum, and she works pretty much like a full-time worker from home, dabbling in freelance projects.

The rest of us are filling in the hours of a daily 9 to 5 job, while juggling our child and the pressures of modern society and work.

Most of us would like to think we have a work-life balance, but in many instances, I do find myself feeling jealous of the stay-at-home mums.

How to resist spending time with this cutie?

A particular incident I experienced recently triggered these thoughts. We enrolled Maegan in a twice-weekly playclass at Julia Gabriel, which starts at 9 am to 10.30am. Work-wise, other than my husband who has slightly more flexible hours, I?m expected to be at work no later than 9.30am every morning, which is a luxury in some sense because I still get to spend some morning time with Maegan when she wakes up.

Before I enrolled Maegan for the classes, I prepared myself mentally for the sessions where Maegan would be enjoying playclass, without me, but my helper, simply because of my work commitments.

I had to swallow the pride in me that I was possibly paying money for precious time that my helper, and not me, would be spending with my daughter.

It was a painful thing to do, but I contended with the fact that I was still able to, on some occasions, send her up to class, only to say goodbye and tear myself away for work.

I looked at all the mothers who sit in the room to accompany their child and immediately felt sorry for me not being able to do the same. At least I had a good helper to reply on, I assured myself.

So my girlfriend asked me one day if she should quit her job, simply because the demands of her work are keeping her in the office till 10pm on most nights, and she arrives home only to see the sleepy faces of her two sons already in bed.

Yet, she could not contemplate what the life of a full-time mother would be like, if she would ever enjoy being 24/7 around her kids, and still be happy with life, and have decent conversations that do not just revolve around her two children.

I empathised totally with her, but had no solution either. Who was I, the full-time working mother of one, and expecting one more on the way, to say to her: "You should put your priorities right, and work will never compensate you for the way your efforts into your children can."

Did I truly mean what I said to her? I reflected and I'm not sure if I did. Because it's true that some women amongst us derive that certain amount of self-achievement and satisfaction from work, which in turn gives us that drive to spur us to use whatever time we have with our kids to make it count.

And it is not true that children do not sometimes drive us up the wall like our work does, and we can never guarantee how our children will turn out in life, we can only do our best and guide them in the ways we know how.

But between giving my all for work, being granted of a decent bonus and a monthly salary, I'm giving up the moments in time which even time can never turn back for me, with my children. And an opportunity missed may sometimes never return. The sad fact is we often mistake that opportunity for a work situation, but never quite see it as the same when it comes to mothering and parenting.

While us working mums trade opportunities at home for work, my goal for myself is to strike a balance between the two for now. And when I find myself coming to the same crossroads as my friend, I want to weigh opportunity for opportunity, because motherhood in itself is an opportunity, not one that's simply gained with long hours and hard work.