Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Parents' Dreams for their Children

It seems as though it was just yesterday when our baby was born. A surprise, a gift that we thought would have been a miracle...that came true. My husband worried about his age that he would be so old when his daughter graduated from college...nigh 70.

Well, she graduated from college on Saturday and it seems that the years just whizzed by like a flash of light. We are still alive and kicking and though suffering from aches and pains...not as decrepit as we thought we'd be 21 years ago. So it is all good.

What we have come to understand is no matter what elaborate schemes or dreams we might have for our children, life happens and they will choose the life for themselves. We can however, do the hard construction work to build a good foundation by teaching our kids about responsibility, hard work, perseverance, dedication, commitment, and loyalty. We can foster a home life that encourages them to love and care for each other. We can work hard to give them memories for a lifetime that do not necessarily have to require a lot of money or material things.

As our children are all adults, we have to trust that our foundations built in our children are strong and proper and we have to trust in their decisions to do the right thing. Our days of ordering them around are gone. Counsel and suggestions when asked are our contributions to their lives. We can sit back now and watch them grow their own families hopefully with the same sort of foundation for life.

Building strong families takes time and hard work. But it is all worth it in the end. Nothing fancy...common people living average lives with contentment