PrimaryOneWoke up bright and early to send my youngest son to Primary One, along with thousands of other parents island wide. It brought back many fond memories as my friend and I watched our sons don the same uniforms that we wore 45 years ago.

A new beginning for all our children – and may they fulfill all their dreams and destinies along the ‘path of the infinite’.

I was reminded of the wise words of Kahlil Gibran on Children – words that I believe all parents should reflect on :

On Children  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 loves also the bow that is stable.