The Joy Of Being A Parent

It is true that until you are a parent you have no idea what the meaning of having and loving and caring for a child really is.  From conception to birth to forever your children are embedded in your heart and your life.  Everything they do has meaning to you.  When they suffer, you suffer, when they are happy you are happy.  Most often these emotions are endured or experienced inwardly in silence across the chambers of your mind and in the depths of your soul.

It is impossible to describe to them what you really feel.  They will only know when they have children of their own.   A loving parent's feelings towards his/her own children are unique but I think that feelings towards all children take on a new dimension in the transformation to parenthood. 

I remember a teacher friend of mine who told me how differently she looked upon the children she taught after she, herself, became a parent.  Her demands and expectations of children and their parents were infinitely more fine-tuned. 

Understand that I am not saying that a childless teacher has less understanding of children than a teacher who has children but that it is a different understanding of children. Again, only those who have children of their own, whom they love deeply, can fully comprehend what I am referring to.  

All in all, when God gives the gift of a child to parents, they enjoy blessings so wondrous that no matter what the tribulations that come with the grand responsibility of parenting, the bond between them and their child remains a powerful and magical force.