Treat your kids right - remember to be a good parent

Something I saw on Facebook the other day, and it made me realise, how right it is, and yet we all forget the whole picture in the hustle bustle of everyday parenting.

How many of us react impulsively at something trivial, like maybe the kids are not waking up and getting ready for school on time, or she dropped something on your well maintained carpet or sofa... Or she has messed up her room, or she simply is not doing things your way! And we blow our top, or behave like we are the kids, and don't know how to handle ourselves.  So I have decided to pin this to my refrigerator and see it everyday to remind me to stay on track.

As a parent to a really mischievous 5 year old daughter, I really do lose my rationality quite often. And at the end of the day when I see my angel sleeping peacefully, realise, maybe I failed to teach her the right thing to do, or the right way to handle a situation.  As parents, we always are in a difficult positions, cos she really looks up to me and thinks if Mamma does it this way, it's the right way!! So it is important for me to remember that I am her role model right now, and what I do or how I deal with her, is how she is gonna do it the next time, and so I got to do it the right way every time, and for that I have to keep the bigger picture in my mind always.

So the more I remember to see the big picture, the more I will be able to handle things the right way.

When I was a new mom, and was feeling completely hopeless and helpless, this book - 100 Promises to my Baby - by Mallika Chopra really helped me.  It is an awesome feel good book, and does help you think as a  responsible parent. It does not preach or anything, just has short stories or events, that will help you put yourself in perspective. It's a book every parent should have on their bookshelf.

Am jotting down a poem I read there, gave me goosebumps :

ON CHILDREN FROM THE PROPHET -  By Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with
His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the Archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves the bow that is stable.