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Today's
quotation:
And then
I thought: what fools we are with our children--always
plotting what we shall make of them,
always planning for
a future
that never comes,
always intent on what they may
be,
never accepting what they are.
Howard Vincent O'Brien
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Today's
Meditation:
Children
are probably our least valued resource. We tend to try
to control them rather than let them be who they are,
thinking that we're doing them a favor by getting them to
act like everyone else, to do things in the same ways that
everyone else does things. It really is quite a shame,
but we keep doing it, over and over and over. But
right now, at this moment, kids are who they are, and
they're trying to become the best version of themselves,
while we keep sabotaging their efforts by trying to turn
them into what we think they should be.
We
can't allow ourselves to be fools with our children.
After all, their futures are at stake--their happiness,
their fulfillment, the reaching of their potential. If
we instill them with foolish things like fears of criticism
and the desire to please others rather than following their
hearts and their passions, then we're sabotaging their
futures, and they simply don't deserve to have us do that.
When
I work with young people (that's what I prefer to call
them), I always try to find things that they're good at, and
compliment them for that rather than trying to find the
things they're not so good at and criticizing them or trying
to "fix" them. Right now, at this moment,
they are wonderful young people with their own gifts and
talents, and we get a whole lot more from our relationships
with them if we allow them to be themselves, and enjoy our
time with them without feeling frustration that they're not
becoming what we want them to be, or what we think they
should be.
Let
them be who they are, and celebrate that, and love
that. If more of us adults would do this, our world
will become a much more loving and caring place as new
generations grow up and spread what they've learned to the
new young of the world.
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