Have you ever wondered what the heck happened to those socks you know you just put in the dryer?
How many times have you pulled out the clothes and found that one sock was missing?
This is one of those Great Mysteries of Life. You wonder, I know I put it in there so how come I can't find it?
You rummage through the laundry and still, no sock. Then, a couple days later you're looking for something in a dresser drawer and voila!, there's that missing sock. Somehow it just wandered away and attached itself to something else.
But, thank goodness you found it, right? I mean, who can wear just one sock?
Aren't kids like that? First you see them, then you don't. They dance and dart around you like little fireflies, smiling and giggling, hiding and playing, full of life and joy and wonder--in their own little worlds--and then they're gone--off to school, or at a sleepover or at summer camp.
If we don't keep track of them, if we don't provide them with the nurturing environment they need to grow into loving and caring human beings, if we don't tend to their needs, answer their questions and set examples of what is right and wrong, then they too may well wind up missing from our lives.
Hopefully, if we do some soul searching and make some amends, we will find them just"hanging out" with friends or simply sitting in their room, quietly reading a book.
Parents are caretakers. We have an obligation to care for our kids.
They belong to us and we belong to them. It's a special symbiotic relationship we are obliged to fulfill as we agreed to take it on in the first place thus embracing and enjoying one of life's most wonderful experiences (not to mention challenges).
But it goes deeper:
Kids are not errant socks but they sure can wind up socking it to us (and themselves, in the process) in some unimaginable and hurtful way if we don't abide by the contract we signed and agreed to as responsible parents and stewards of their futures.
How many times have you pulled out the clothes and found that one sock was missing?
This is one of those Great Mysteries of Life. You wonder, I know I put it in there so how come I can't find it?
You rummage through the laundry and still, no sock. Then, a couple days later you're looking for something in a dresser drawer and voila!, there's that missing sock. Somehow it just wandered away and attached itself to something else.
But, thank goodness you found it, right? I mean, who can wear just one sock?
Aren't kids like that? First you see them, then you don't. They dance and dart around you like little fireflies, smiling and giggling, hiding and playing, full of life and joy and wonder--in their own little worlds--and then they're gone--off to school, or at a sleepover or at summer camp.
If we don't keep track of them, if we don't provide them with the nurturing environment they need to grow into loving and caring human beings, if we don't tend to their needs, answer their questions and set examples of what is right and wrong, then they too may well wind up missing from our lives.
Hopefully, if we do some soul searching and make some amends, we will find them just"hanging out" with friends or simply sitting in their room, quietly reading a book.
Parents are caretakers. We have an obligation to care for our kids.
They belong to us and we belong to them. It's a special symbiotic relationship we are obliged to fulfill as we agreed to take it on in the first place thus embracing and enjoying one of life's most wonderful experiences (not to mention challenges).
But it goes deeper:
Kids are not errant socks but they sure can wind up socking it to us (and themselves, in the process) in some unimaginable and hurtful way if we don't abide by the contract we signed and agreed to as responsible parents and stewards of their futures.
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