Parents & Children

Children are very selfish creatures. From the moment we are born we demand our parents' love, attention, time and even earnings. We steal their hearts and become their pride and weakness. Along with us, our demands also grow. We ask and ask, but they never cease to give.

But we should learn to give back too. Like the many traits we learn from our parents, we should learn the art of giving from them too. They go on making sacrifices after sacrifices for us. Then why cannot we make small sacrifices for them. Why do we not understand that while forgoing things we can do without, we are relieving them in our own small way.


Many a times out of ignorance, instead of being thankful of our parents we complain of not having parents like someone else. But we forget that thousands of children do not even have parents. Our mothers spend most of her time in the kitchen preparing food for us. But at the table, instead of thanking her we complain about the food. We forget that millions of children across the globe do not even have a mother to provide for them. 



I remember Deta (my father) telling my sister and me that we should demand things from him; that we should not be worried whether he has the means to give it; that as a father it is his duty to provide whatever we want. We both were deeply touched because during that time our family was going through a rough patch. Even if he wanted us to, putting demands never became our forte. I think we could not do that because we never saw them doing that.
 
Our parents' world revolves around us. They strive relentlessly and tirelessly to give us a good life. They always work towards giving us better things and better opportunities than they had. Above all, they give us their unconditional love. All we need to do is to respect their efforts, treat them well, care for them and above all be thankful of having them.

It is very natural that our parents hope that we would take care of them when they grow older. They give us all their lives. And when we grow up, it is our turn to take care of them. This is the cycle of life. But unfortunately many of us do not think so. Many of us think that once our parents make us capable of earning a living, we are done with them. I know of people who have their own families and still trying to take from their old parents in whatever small and big ways they can. I know people teaching their children to demand presents from their grandparents. It is really so sad and pathetic. But such children forget that life comes to a full cycle. We should always remember that the way we treat our parents, is the most probable way our children will treat us.

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