Taking it Easy on Making it Easy on my Kid

I always fear for my child’s future. The negative possibilities always come up to mind. What if I lose my job tomorrow? What if something bad happens to me or his mom? Or it could also be something bigger. It could be as big as a national problem like an epidemic or a war or anything bad that you could imagine. 

I’m sure that most parents have thought of the same things. It’s natural for moms and dads to be protective of their children’s welfare. With these things in mind, we all strive to provide all their needs. And we get occupied in providing them a better future, but might be too occupied from shaping them to be better in the future.

Don't bother him. He's busy

Parents will try to provide their children’s needs as much as possible and at times even more than what’s basic. We feed them good food to ensure they are healthy.  We buy them clothes.  We work hard for their education. Many parents will say they won’t let their kids experience the hardships they encountered in life. Sounds noble.  I too wouldn’t want my son to go through most of the bad things that I had. And we try so hard to give them everything that we forget we’re being selfish on giving what’s more important for them. We shield them away from the challenges and difficulties which tested our character . The things that taught us hard lessons which made us what we are now.  We keep them in so much comfort until they get to meet the hardships too late.  We deprive them of learning from life itself. 

Every time I look at my son, I see a full-grown man in him. A future citizen.  He’ll become a head of a family or a group soon. This little fellow would be in authority one day. He’ll have responsibilities.  He will be assigned and will assign tasks.  All of those will happen one day. It’s my role to prepare him for that moment starting from day one.  He’s a child now but won’t be for long. Same as the other kids. They will replace us someday. And more than the material things they need is to be equipped with the right virtues and wisdom so they can perform better than our generation. The foundation of the future depends on how much we strengthen the young.  

Youth is the hope according to our great hero. And it's our hands that build them.

Let them stumble and stand on their own but support them. Give them freedom to decide but guide them. Let them think for themselves but always be there to answer questions.  Let them try and experience success. And more so, to experience failures.  For these things is what will build their character. And collectively as a generation they will build the future of our society. 

My wife and I are doing lots of preparation for our family’s future like getting an insurance, doing investments and others to ensure that our son would be fine financially. We’re still far from being okay but at least we started already.  I also created this blog that once he grows up, he’ll be able to read my thoughts and the lessons that I wanted to teach him. And I won’t have the burden to repeat them in case my memory starts failing. And this specific post will be here to remind me to take it easy on making everything so easy for him so that his uncertain future will be easier for him to handle.