Parental Passage

Carefully we construct
security for offspring,
add luxuries to entertain,
accommodate growth
with additions, play host
to revolving-door friends.

And yet, we are graded
on performance – met
or unmet expectations –
help up against a stack
of other super parents –
silhouettes of perfection.

Still, we celebrate growing
aspirations, sprouting family,
ignore the slanders, and ease
into age with a tad of kook,
or wild inappropriateness –
all expressions of our love.

Published by

VJ

Permission to write, paint, and imagine are the gifts I gave myself when chronic illness hit - a fair exchange: being for doing. Relevance is an attitude. Humour essential.

20 thoughts on “Parental Passage”

  1. Pingback: Parental Passages – One Woman's Quest

  4. I’m lucky that my parents didn’t wait until their old age to express “a tad of kook.” 🙂 All joking aside, my compliments on a lovely reflection on the difficulties of parenting. I suppose we’ve been comparing ourselves to other humans since the pre-dawn of history, but your words rings especially true in this age of curated online “personas of perfection.”

    Liked by 1 person

      1. It’s a tough pattern to break, because watching how others do things is part of our natural, instinctive learning behavior. But I find that when we’re *aware* that we’re comparing ourselves to others it sometimes takes a bite out of the feelings of inadequacy. Hope that’s true for your kids, at least …

        Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.