It’s Our Little Children Who Love Us Unconditionally
An old friend and I were having a conversation a few weeks ago about the challenges of parenting and how sometimes parents are expected to be faultless individuals. It’s a lofty expectation to the point that we become too hard on ourselves when we commit mistakes or even the slightest slipups.
It’s Our Little Children Who Love Us Unconditionally
I admit to being that kind of person, the one who’s too hard on himself. That’s not to say though that I rarely commit mistakes. As a matter of fact, I do make a lot of oversights. That being the case, I lose my cool easily and blame myself in the process. I guess it also stems from the way we were brought up. We were taught to take responsibility for our mistakes to the point that we embrace each fault to be our very own doing.
Anyway, one interesting aspect of our conversation led us to the concept of unconditional love. All of us were taught that it’s our parents who love us unconditionally or at least in the traditional Filipino household, we were raised thinking that “walang magulang na hindi kayang tiisin ang anak.” Roughly translated in English, it means “there is no parent who can’t forgive their child.”
While that may be true, I believe that it’s not totally unconditional. For a parent to forgive an erring child, certain conditions have to be met such as the promise to change for the better or not commit the same mistakes again.
In the context of the Filipino, parents may even disown a child who continues to defy the standards set by the parents. I’m not saying that as a bad thing though because I know parents, ultimately, would want their children to take the most honorable path, so to speak. But again, from the notion of being unconditional, that doesn’t qualify.
On the other hand, it’s our little kids who shower us with unconditional love. No matter how much we yell when things become a little too hard to contain, how much we inadvertently hurt them physically or emotionally, and how many times we unknowingly make them cry, they would come running to us and reward us with a genuine smile and a tight embrace. We are their world, no matter what we do to them. They will love us unconditionally and unquestionably despite our flaws and beyond our own demons.
However, do keep in mind though that it’s a different story if we hurt our children intentionally. They remember the trauma and would most likely grow up despising us.
In the end, just shower your children as much as you can and love yourself regardless of your own shortcomings.