I read this poem from time to time to remind myself the truth of being a parent… And I wonder how I could be more like my son as the poem suggests. Get glued to my iPhone screen? Play soccer? Get argumentative? Play video games?
Then I know; I can be more playful, be true to my wants and needs, try new things with my friends, ask for help when I need it, strive to be good at what I love, and have the courage to dream even if the dream seems impossible…
What about you? How can you be more like children?
On Children
Kahlil Gibran – 1883-1931And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children.
And he said:
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.
