Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Gibran : The Prophet

Very wise observation.

Nice to see another knows of Gibran

I like that. I don't know of Gibran though. But this I like.

Khalil Gibran...wonder writer, this is from "The Prophet".

How true!!!

Children are ALL of ours in a way as well. We all affect them and influence them. But in the end they are their own person right? Isn't that what we raise them to be? What kind of person they are is all a parent can take ownness of.

I really like that.

yes, it is a nice philosophy although I do believe my children are my responsibility,,my responsibility to protect and raise up in the ways that will prepare them for life,,in that sense, they are definitely mine.

I've often thought that 'The Prophet' should be required reading in high school. I know its words have more than once buoyed my spirits while traversing some of the rough seas my life has seen.

Even though it's fiction, I think of it as almost a religious book, a Secular Humanist's Bible as it were.

"Work is love made visible."

-Kerry O.

I agree, of course they are our responsibility. What I believe Gibran is saying here is that our children have always been here, they always will be..
long before us was them.

Do you come from a Utah polygamy family Ladylid?

silly monkey..you know I'm not a mormon

I mean the family you came from. Your ancestors. I was just curious and thought I would ask while it was on my mind. Were you raised a mormon?

Nope..Italian, Spanish, German, Cherokee, no mormon's

my mom converted about 30 years ago...I never got into it with her.

oh ok

Can you help me find whose they are, cause I wouldnt mind giving them back today,,,lol? (just a joke)

Yes, yes and yes. We are given the gift of raising free thinking, independent people who will shape their own futures, hopefully never demanding our views onto who they wish to be. Truly, unconditional love.

yes and yes...they are already their own little people. We just love them through it all. Was my children who taught me unconditional love, not my parents.

some days aye

sounds like Gibran the Phophet must have prophecied that his children would have been little hellions