Here is a favorite poem about the importance of raising children with an eye toward preparing them to leave. It is by Kahlil Gibran and I included it at the end of our portfolio to show birth mothers when we adopted our daughter Aubrey.  It goes like this:
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 also the bow that is stable.
This poem so beautifully honors a child's "growing up" and not only the parent's role to "raise up" a child but the ultimate importance of letting go. We really do want to train our children in such a way so that they don't need us...but maybe they still want us?!?
In this week's writing, Sandy, Judy, 'Chelle, and I talk about leaving home. It colors who we are as adults and gives us perspective on how we raise/raised our own children. We reminisce about lessons, fun times, and how we made parenting challenging (at times) for our own parents.
Check out our legacy writings at https://sidetrackedsisters.com/category/head-sanity/
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