An Open Letter to your Kids

[sundaymorningstaple]

Gosh, I'd like to meet your daughter. Did she take your letter to heart? It's so great to be loved by one's own pa. And ma. And to be able to talk to them.

Well, She has only had the one boyfriend (the same one in the letter), She likes to party but while she is a typical youngster she does not drink nor smoke. She has assured us that she can wear a white wedding gown in February without shame. She is polite, well mannered, and frankly, aside from not washing dishes, we could not ask for better daughter.

sms

[Wind In My Hair]

Here's a piece of writing on parenting that i like, in case any parents are interested. it's from Kahlil Gibran:

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 also loves the bow that is stable.

[sundaymorningstaple]

[quote="sundaymorningstaple"]I thought just maybe someone here on the board can use it. If you have been here that long you may remember it.

I wrote this for my daughter & son some 8 years ago when my daughter was 13. It was also published in the local paper "The New Paper" (full page) on 2 May 1998.


How to survive the teenage years

Well, it’s finally happened. We have a teenager in the house.

It’s not like we didn’t expect it or anything. I mean, we’ve known for 13 years that it was coming, and we’ve tried to prepare ourselves. But it wasn’t until I saw Lisa talking to that 15-year-old boy at church the other day that I began to fully appreciate what was happening in our lives......And frankly, I’m a little scared.

Don’t get me wrong – Lisa is a terrific girl with a strong sense of values. But she’s also imperfect, which means she’s going to make mistakes from time to time. And today more than ever before, a simple mistake or error in judgment can be devastating to young people – emotionally, physically and spiritually.

And so I’ve been thinking. At age 13, Lisa hasn’t quite arrived at the point where she totally tunes Mom and Dad out the minute they start to talk. Maybe now – just as she’s beginning her teenage journey – is the time to debunk some of those myths that plagued us all, through adolescence, to one degree or another. If I could imprint anything on Lisa’s mind to help see her through the next seven or eight years, it would be that she remember these ten simple truths:

1. Everybody isn’t doing it. Whatever “it”

[the lynx]

Let me guess, you were trying to look for that old thread about a 'girl' who is looking for any 'adult' who wants to adopt her as his 'daughter'?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Yep, and I just found it and posted it that thread. By the way, both posters are from your country of origin.

[the lynx]

Yep, and I just found it and posted it that thread. By the way, both posters are from your country of origin.

Probably the same girl. And I'm not proud of that.

Not trying to be racist but I think I figured out the MO from that perspective:
Easier access to higher population of affluent expats/locals + International appeal + Same amount of goodies bestowed by daddy/mummy as a boyfriend would + Emotional/mental support and acceptance by older people - Sexual or uncomfortable interaction that would have arisen from romantic/sexual relationship = Platonic adoptive father-daughter relationship

I wonder if she factored in the potential legal requirements for more 'goodies' at higher level such as trips, moving to daddy's home country, assets, etc.

[taxico]

sunday: a follow-up piece... say... when the grand kids come about... !