WISDOM COMES WITH WINTERS

 



“You spend the first 2 years of their life teaching them

to walk and talk.

Then, you spend the next 16 years telling them

to sit down and shut up.”

Anonymous

 

Doesn’t it sound familiar?

Well, it does. And, it also makes us smile, behind which, we can hear our quiet justification: “Hey, is it not parenting?”

Yesterday was my mom’s b’day. She entered her 87th. My wife and I had made a video call to wish her yesterday. Mom sounded cheerful, a lot content. One of the things, that was going through my mind was, how, with age, parents become more and more dependent on their children. Honestly, my mind went back to those initial 2 years when I was a baby… I didn’t remember much about it… But, most certainly, she must’ve taught me, like all other mothers did, to walk and talk! How important it must’ve been for her! How satisfying! What I clearly remember were the next 16 years, when I was getting into my little boyhood and slowly turning into an adolescent… Oh, those endless heartburns to discipline her son… yes, to make him sit down or shut up!

In those few minutes, while talking to my mom yesterday, my mind also brought back the memories of my own attempts to make my only son walk and talk in his first 2 years… What a satisfying experience that’d been to me and my wife as parents! And, I quickly remembered the following 16 years… of we trying to discipline him – ‘Sit down’ and ‘Shut up’!





Maybe, it’s just a metaphor… Each parent does it; but, to each his own, always! A parent like me has an opportunity to stand at this midway and look both ways to reflect: How did my parents bring me up? And how did we parents bring up our own?

I seriously think, that this midway reflection is an important thing in one’s life. Oscar Wilde would beautifully describe it with his words - “Wisdom comes with winters”…

How true!

Parents, slowly, lose their control and become dependent on their children. That’s also an amazing phase of growth, and living. For grandchildren to provide a fresh meaning and purpose to their grandparents… For grandparents to provide a fresh meaning and purpose to their grandchildren. With that,  Life comes the full circle… It’s really beautiful!

“There are two lasting bequests we can give our children,” says Hodding Carter Jr., “One is  roots. The other is wings.”




The ‘winter’ is the season in life to look back and reflect, if our parents had given us these two bequests, and if we have given the same to our own children.

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s: pixabay

 

Video: Leslie Odom Jr.

 

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