To the Mother of My Child

To the Mother of My Child

My Dear, we became one, long back, it is 15 years now, and here is our child, who is 12

On the threshold of life he is, full of activity and vigor, we both love him, you a bit more.

And we both want him to have a great, joyous life, and we both worry, and we are serious

About his well being, the things he learns, the things he needs, the things he must do.

But I have a greater fear, a fear that our son would share in the core of his being,

He may not want the things we need from him, he may not want to do what we want him to do,

You see him, always hyper, and all the time you need to shout at him to get the simplest things done,

It can exasperate us, is it not, when he seemingly fails to do his duties, sometimes simple things.

But we both know, and we share that, how sensitive he is too, and how intelligent, how deep,

We both know his sharp mind, his enthusiasm, when he loves something and his infinite energy.

And at such times, sweetheart, I am afraid, very afraid, of whether we are loving towards him

Or whether we are, unknowingly, cruel, and unsparing, and excessively bothered to make him perform.

He is first in everything, but is he really? Deep within we 3 know that this so called education gives nothing.

It cripples even our ability to ask questions and finally we end up so inert, dead and unfeeling,

Today our child is happy, free, energetic, hyper and enthusiastic, and full of life!!

But would he be like that tomorrow. I worry when he is made to study, and I see that no questioning

Comes from that content, no wonder, not even reading, no pausing, no discovery, no insight.

I know my son is not learning though coming first in the class, and may be if we insist too much

The natural interest would die a natural death, and he will be like everybody else.

Is it our fear, imposed on him? Is it unknowingly our ambition, and our standards

That we impose on so delicate a creature? I am not sure that we are right.

And we need to together think, feel, stop, and look at OUR CHILD with no expectation.

Let us begin a new chapter in parenting, leave him, and yet love him, let us learn and teach!!!