what's the upside?

There are times when your nerves make it hard for you to remember to be thankful for having children especially when your little dragons at home start to breathe-out fire. However, under normal circumstances, I still think being a parent is priceless. It has its payoffs that compensates for the pains and heartaches of child-rearing.

Children bring certain happiness to their parents even without trying or exerting extra effort. Parents are crazy about their kids - just seeing them having fun and enjoying life, or thinking about what will they become as they grow older. It doesn’t matter if their children resents it, parents delight in being overly involved with their children’s life, and even if they macro manage at work, they practice 100 % micromanagement when it comes to their children’s affairs.

What do children give their parents? For me the biggest upside of being a parent when the kids are at their tender age is the experience of innocent love, it is also the time you feel their total surrender. This stage brings extra happiness to control-freak parents (I’m not!), unfortunately, this doesn’t last long. There is also the experience of innocent wisdom, the time when you savor the words and opinions of your youngsters as precious treasure, like everything that comes out of their mouth clicks.

I have two boys at their puberties. I heard from other parents who have children passed this stage that this is the most challenging period for them. They talked about their difficult times, their complaints when their kids were teenagers, but didn’t mention a single moment of the joys of parenthood during the time. I guessed, a case of overlook, parents were overwhelmed with the downside, they forgot the good times.

It might be premature for me to speak about the rewards of parenthood at this stage when children are at their teens, but so far from experience, it is positively rewarding. This is the stage that I am learning from them about everything, a million things, from their perspective. Interestingly enough, some of them, I never encountered or heard of in my whole existence. Being a tech person, this is also the time that I am starting to rely on my kids, they have natural gift in running electronics without reading the manuals. This is the time they begin to express themselves and on certain occasions, challenge your viewpoints and tests your authority. It takes a stretch of patience and an open mind to deal with but once managed, adds up to the fulfilling moments of parenthood.

The joys and pains, the color and the drama, you'll find altogether in one package called CHILDREN.

(I got inspired to write this entry because of a recent scenario which I'm writing about next. Till next blog!)