Are you in love with your child,
Or do you love your child?
You see,
There is a big difference.
The former means molly-coddling.
The latter, giving space for growth.
The former gives in to demands, mostly.
The latter gives freedom with limitations.
The former is correcting every mistake.
The latter is allowing them to live the journey.
The former is running to pick the child as soon as he falls.
The latter is knowing that knee-scrapes are the medals of childhood.
The former wants his child to be the best.
The latter allows the child to give his best.
The former is cramming the child’s schedule (so he is multi-faceted).
The latter is giving him choice and breathing space to play.
The former keeps tab of every moment and how it is spent.
The latter builds a system of trust and security.
The former causes anxiety (and passes it to the child).
While the latter is about being reassured.
The former is a feeling of never being enough
The latter is trusting your instincts as a parent
The former is doing what feels good to you.
The latter is doing what’s actually good for the child.
The former is blind.
The latter, conscious.
The former is thinking that there is no other child like yours in this world (partly true).
The latter is knowing that this child has been entrusted to you for ‘his’ unraveling.