Kahlil Gibran on Children

I had read this long ago.It is beautiful! Let us never forget what we are to our children...Let us not forget our role.. let us not force our ideas and thoughts and worse of all, our unfinished agenda on them. Let them be for what they are!


On Children
Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let our bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Childhood memories are made of this!

Since I started working in the field of child education, I have realized that children are really the best stress busters (and sometimes also the source of stress!)(Btw, Vardan says that I am always "realizing" something or the other :))

A couple of days back, I had reached school early and happened to watch from my office window Sunay and Vardan walking in a little later. Both of them were initially walking hand in hand and I thought "Ah! Just like those life insurance-family scene kind of ads they show on TV. Modern Dad with kid! ". However, soon Vardan lost patience and walked ahead and asked Sunay to walk quickly. But this boy! He had all the time in the world! Was checking out some plants, some birds, in between, he stopped and turned back to see what was the scenery he was leaving behind (The school campus does look lovely). I was so touched seeing that scene- seeing Sunay enjoying all the sights that we manage to do only after spending lots of money and going on a vacation!

Then, yesterday morning,another similar thing but in our apartment complex. Vardan had taken Sunay downstairs to spend time while I got ready for work. By the time I was downstairs ready to leave, Sunay was busy checking out some pigeons, following them and of course, he had all the time in the world to do that while his parents were getting late for work. I thought about this incident again last night. And like a flashback, another memory came racing back- Rujuta and I running amongst the pigeons at Marine Drive with Appa and Aaji. And I thought to myself- If they had rushed us at that time, I would not have this memory with me". So, I have told myself that the next time, Sunay wants to "stand and stare", I will let him even if it means getting late by a few minutes. A beautiful childhood memory is much more precious than a harried parent's few minutes here and there!