Essence

It may very well be that the real gift we give to our children won’t simply be the time we spent with them while we were here on earth. Our time here is limited, so yes, of course, what we do with our time here is incredibly important. We will get old. We will die. Time matters. Especially to our children.

But I sometimes wonder if the real gift from a parent to a child isn’t actually the wisdom we pass along. Wisdom, out of which they will have the ability to make it through the worst of their days, long after we have turned to dust.

If having children is a way to touch the future, then teaching them our collective wisdom is a way to help them survive in that same future. That wisdom will allow them to navigate whatever terrain they encounter. Terrain that will not include us as an accompaniment.

Because on those days, and inside of those nights, when the walls seem to be crumbling around them….in those moments, when all they will want to do is talk to us…..it will be in the memory of us, of our kind and gentle parenting, where they will remember our words and feel our support.