When a child is born, its parents do all the things to make it feel comfortable and protected, to give their child a good life that it needs to grow into a healthy young person. Parents perform all the daily activities for its upkeep and maintenance from feeding timely and proper diet to clothing to protecting from the scourge of diseases and harsh weather. A child’s early learning starts right from the day it is born while formal learning happens a little later when the child starts attending formal school. What is most striking in the whole process of upbringing is that parents perform all of these activities selflessly without complaining and in most cases making grave sacrifices of their own selves and their thriving careers too. Most of these activities might appear trivial or simple but actually they are not as each is crucial in the overall picture. The parents do all this and much more with complete devotion as childbirth is like a prayer come true and they value it even more than their own lives. The parents while rearing their children relegate themselves to the background forgetting their own interests and priorities, while keeping their children’s interests at the forefront of all their thoughts, tasks and actions. Parents’ lives and the decisions they take revolves around that of their children. Fulfilling all the needs, wants and desires of their children becomes the sole purpose of their life. Providing unconditional love, support and resources is what they do throughout their lifetime. God, the supreme creator, wondered how He could take good care of all the children while sitting up there in heaven. That is why God created Parents who would take care of their child here on earth just like He would have.

Image Credit: nwachildcare

The harsh reality strikes later in life when the child grows up and the young bird flies away out of the nest on its quest to explore the world, on a journey to conquer all that there is. In their journey the young birds sometimes forget their parents, the very hands that tended them, the very hands that made them capable to stand on their own two legs, the hands that comforted them, wiped their tears and applied ointment on the wounds when the child accidentally hurt itself during play, the same hands that administered medicines when they fell ill. Numerous nights the parents stayed awake couched by their child’s bedside in the expectation that their sick child might need something in the middle of the night. Numerous nights the parents spent awake and going without food or water until their child returned safely back home on a rigorous day at office or after a sojourn. Numerous times the parents went hungry so that their child had enough to eat. They counselled and motivated you when you came back home dejected and harbored pessimistic thoughts. They stood by you in your difficult time. Numerous hours they spent standing outside the examination hall waiting for the exam to get over to take you safely back home. What gave children the confidence to march boldly and confidently in the ruthless world are the words of advice and wisdom that parents showered on their children in the process called as upbringing. Parents never asked even once when the child craved for something, the parents were always ready to give all that they had and even more. They risked their own lives to give their child a dignified life, to provide their child the best of everything. The parents could have withheld their love, blessings and resources to further their own interests and lead a comfortable life, but they did not, so that the child gets a better life. The child has a lot to be thankful about, for the good and healthy life that he or she has come to inherit.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

The parents eventually grow old and infirm. This is the time they need their child’s help and support and above all, love and patience. This is why we say that life is a circular journey, what child received from its parents years back is to be repaid back to the parents. But most of us conveniently forget this simple rule of life that God made. Who are we to challenge and break the rule? They do not need your money, they just need little time out your busy schedule, your love, support and a few words of kindness. Spend a few moments with them every day, either physically if possible or else over phone or a videocall.

[ Also Read: A little warmth and kindness in your heart goes a long way ]

Believe me, this will keep them in good health and you too. Remember your own time, the overwhelming love and patience your parents showered upon you in their youth when you were an infirm and incapable of facing the world? Even the mighty sun eventually sets and goes into hiding for a long time. There will be a time when you will also grow old and the sun would set out on you too. Whom do your fall back upon? What you do to your parents, your children will do to you as they say ‘what you sow, so shall you reap.’