Two Saturdays ago, Gregory’s school asked all class 6 parents to school for a 4 hour seminar. They didn’t disclose the subject of the seminar and therefore we didn’t prepare at all. Gregory, Georgina and I were in school on time and for the next four hours we sat trhough a very interesting session conducted by a lady called Terry Kaguchia from Bulbul Counseling Centre. She is one hell of a presenter- humourous and daring. She is a retired teacher who served for 33 years and is a mother and grandmother. As is common with people her age, she has earned the “license” to be blunt.
The talk she was giving was on how parents can prepare for the changes that pre-teens are going through as they transit into adolescence. The boys and girls each had a separate session elsewhere, but I believe the parents had the best of time. No one noticed the time fly past.
I took away from the session quite a number of lessons, but the most important was the poem below called “What a wonder”. Please enjoy…..
What a wonder
Your children are not your children.
They are 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, even in your dream.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you
For life goes not backward nor ties with yesterday
