YOUR CHILDREN ARE NOT YOUR CHILDREN

One of my all time favorite poems is " The Prophet" by Khalil Gibran on children.  It reminds me that my children are a blessing and a gift from God.  They came through me and it is my responsibility to teach them and help them grow in this life.

Here is what Khalil Gibran wrote:

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....

- KHALIL GIBRAN, on children, from The Prophet