Yang Jung-a reflects on childless life after childcare experience

Actress Yang Jung-a revealed her honest feelings about her childless life while personally caring for two children. While spending a day holding young children in her arms, she expressed how "it's so good" and "I'm so happy," while also hinting at her regret regarding not having children by imagining how much she would have adored them if she had her own.

On the 35th episode of the KBS 1TV variety show "Let's Live Together with Hwang Shin-hye," which aired on the 16th, Yang Jung-a took on the challenge of childcare for two children alongside Hwang Shin-hye and Shin Gye Suk.

The three women were tasked with looking after sisters Ha-rin, aged 5, and Ha-yun, aged 12 months, on behalf of a neighbor who had personal matters to attend to. Although they prepared by tying the children's hair with colorful rubber bands, the titles the children called them were quite different from what the three had expected.

When Hwang Shin-hye asked Ha-rin, "You're going to play with us today, so what do you want to call us? Do you like 'unnie' (older sister), 'ajumma' (middle-aged woman), 'imo' (aunt), or 'halmeoni' (grandmother)?" Ha-rin replied without hesitation, "Grandmother."

Hwang Shin-hye reacted by saying "It's fine," but her momentarily frozen expression drew laughter. On the other hand, Yang Jung-a was the only one among the three to earn the title of "aunt," allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief.

The conversation also turned to the generational shift in childcare products. Comparing it to the time she raised her daughter Lee Jin, Hwang noted that the current childcare environment and products, such as panty-type diapers or baby bottles with handles on both sides, have changed significantly from what she experienced.

As Shin Gye Suk, who has no childcare experience, continuously marveled at the new products, Hwang burst into laughter while saying, "It's truly rewarding." She continued by discussing her current relationship with her daughter, saying, "Now, Jin has become the guardian who supports and takes care of me.""

Hwang took an active role, skillfully changing the diaper of 12-month-old Ha-yun by utilizing her actual parenting experience. In contrast, for Yang Jung-a and Shin Gye Suk, childcare was a brand-new experience.

During this process, Hwang spoke unexpected words to Yang.

While moving with the two children, Hwang said to Yang, "I feel so much regret that you didn't have children." She followed up with, "If you imagine there was a child by your side..." and Yang appeared to fall into thought for a moment.

"Exactly. It's so good," Yang said, expressing her affection for children. She added, "If I had one, they would be so pretty that I would just want to bite and kiss them constantly." Rather than simple praise for childcare, her words seemed to imagine how dearly she would have raised a child if she had one.

Hwang also thought of her daughter Lee Jin while looking at the children. "I imagine Jin at that age. She was just so cute," she said, looking back at her young daughter through time.

The conversation between the two led to a moment where women living in different time periods reflected on their past lives through the medium of childcare. For Hwang, the children were beings that evoked memories of her past parenting, but for Yang, they were beings that made her recall the possibilities of a life she had not experienced.

In particular, the relationship between Yang and 12-month-old Ha-yun grew close quickly. Perhaps because she had held the child all day, Ha-yun refused to leave Yang's side at one point. Even when someone tried to hand the child to Shin Gye Suk, Ha-yun would instead burrow deeper into Yang's arms.

When Shin Gye Suk said, "Jung-a, you like babies," Yang expressed her feelings without hiding them.

"I like them so much. I am so happy. When will I ever get to hold a baby in my arms again?"

In a single sentence, the current happiness of holding a child and the regret of not having experienced that happiness sufficiently in her own life were contained together. For Yang, the day's childcare was not just a variety show mission, but an opportunity to look back on the time she has lived.

Of course, it cannot be concluded that Yang regrets her current life through these remarks. This is because the feeling of liking children and the regret regarding the fact that she has no children in her life can exist simultaneously. In the broadcast, rather than directly stating she regrets her past choices, she honestly expressed the affection and happiness felt when holding a child.

Instead, the final scene showed the reality of childcare in a humorous way. Having moved around while holding a child all day, Yang appealed, "Childcare is truly so hard," and was nearly carried home, providing a moment of laughter.

She experienced both the affection for children and the exhaustion of parenting. While the scene was consumed with laughter on screen, it also captured the realistic sense that childcare is not just about playing with cute children.

Yang was born in 1971 and was a Miss Korea in 1990. She later made her debut as a Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation talent in 1993, working across dramas and variety shows. She has maintained a long-standing connection with the public through various works such as "My Husband Got a Family," "Brave Family," and "Band of Sisters."

Her marriage was relatively short. Yang married a businessman three years her junior in 2013 at the age of 43. Although they held a wedding after a four-month courtship, they did not have children and later divorced.

In a previous appearance on the same program, Yang honestly evaluated her past, saying, "I married in a hurry. I was immature back then. I don't think it had anything to do with being mature.""

This recent childcare experience does not necessarily link to a direct regret of her past marriage. However, it is meaningful that she, having navigated the ups and downs of marriage and divorce, imagined a "hypothetical life" through the experience of holding a child.

In one's 50s, the paths not taken can become even more vivid. Because past choices—such as a life without marriage, a life without children, or a different career—cannot be undone, Yang's remarks can be seen as a moment of imagining those "other possibilities.""

When Yang said "I'm so happy" while holding the child, yet followed it with "When will I ever get to hold a baby in my arms again?", it felt particularly sincere. While experiencing the physical exhaustion of childcare, she expressed clear happiness for the affection and intimacy that can only be found in those moments.

Ultimately, what Yang showed on this broadcast was not merely the "regret of a divorcee over not having children." It was a record of a person who has reached an age where past choices cannot be undone, momentarily imagining a scene from a life she never experienced while holding a young child.

And that imagination was expressed not as a grand regret, but through the very personal sentiment that she "would have just wanted to bite and kiss them" because they were so cute. Combined with her laughing about how "hard" childcare was at the end, the experience left a blend of affection for children, the reality of parenting, and a poignant reflection on a life passed.