Most of our articles are focused on the couple relationship of parents. I don’t want to overlook the children in our lives and an area I will explore further is about how to bring your parenting approaches into alignment. To get in the mood I want to share a famous poem from ‘The Prophet‘.
In the bigger picture, how do you see the role of your children in your life – and you in theirs?
On Children
Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)
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 your 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.
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