A Look Ahead

I am reading a book, titled: The Happy Child, Everything You Need to Know to Raise Enthusiastic, Confident Children, by Linda Blair.

I really like the Afterword, at the end of the book, which read:

"When you become a parent, you take one of the most significant steps you'll ever take in your life. You sign up for a job that offers no holidays. It demands that you be on call seven days a week - and that includes nights, particularly at first, and then again when your child becomes a teenager.

Furthermore, you can't expect payment - that is, you can hope your child will appreciate the efforts you make on their behalf, but there's no way you can guarantee any thanks.

And yet, despite that daunting picture, parenting is the best job you'll ever have.

During the early years of your child's life, our role is primarily to work for your child.
You'll care for him completely when he's a tiny baby,
and keep him safe while he learns to move about independently
and to master language when he's a toddler.
You'll introduce him gradually and lovingly into the social world, let him explore and learn about his environment, and answer his endless questions when he's a preschooler.

When he's a school child, he'll be able to take care of himself in many ways and he'll spend entire days away from his home and family. He'll then really begin to create his own life.

From this stage on, the balance between you will shift significantly.
No longer will he be so dependent on you.
Instead of working for him, you'll begin to work more and more often with him.

This shift will continue throughout his tweens and teens,
until at the end of his teenage years, it will be time for you to take the most difficult and the most selfless of all the steps you will ever take as a parent.

Then will be the time when you must show him that you trust his maturity, and that you have faith in his abilities, his knowledge and his judgement.

That's when you'll set him free..."