by Ramakrishna Reddy, Head of the Institution

I will be sharing different pieces of literature that are inspirational and are relevant for our children and parents in each issue of Sparsh.

A lot of us as parents have several aspirations for our children and more often than not they are driven by what we want from them rather than what they would like to do, we feel we own our children while in truth we are just their care takers and only can influence them in parts. These thoughts are amazingly and aptly expressed by eminent poet Khalil Gibran on Children in the book Prophet, pl read..

On Children
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 also the bow that is stable.