Our children, our future

Saba Khan

Our children belong to the future, although we seldom think like that. Khalil Jibran once said that children are arrows and parents are bows which fires the arrow. Similarly, we as parents procreate and are given the responsibility of a soul, but we don’t own them as they belong to the future. We are here to nourish and the rest is unto them.

Previously, I did not used to think like that. In our eastern culture, children are thought of as an asset, a helping hand or a sort of insurance, that when the parents grow old, they will have their children to look after them. But as times are changing, this has also changed, although not that significantly. 

Now, most of the parents in the east, understand that fact that one day or the other their children will fly away and they usually try not to hold them back. But this is not as simple as it seems to be. Can there be a sustainable relationship, in which the parents and their kids share a nourishing bond and parents are saved the agony of being an empty nester. These are just my random thoughts and questions. Of course every family will be requiring a different solution for such sustainability.

My father, who is quite close to his roots, used to share a wise saying of his elders with us, which was something like that, ‘O’ Lord make me a reasonable chap, as my parents will be remembered after me’. This means our behavior in the society is considered to be a reflection of our parents, of how we are raised (which is of course not always true, as so many factors shape the personality of a kid).

These were some of my random thoughts regarding the essence of parenthood, who our children are and where they belong! So they really do belong to the future, because after long when we are gone, they will be our representatives and a proof of our existence.

Image courtesy 'Pixaby'