Paradoxical Love

As parents, the hardest thing for us to  understand

Is that our children are not our children

However tight we hold their hands

We may love them and feed them

And teach them certain ways

But we can never own them

They’re only ours to raise

So a parent’s love is paradoxical

The very love we give

Is the love that they grow up with

And take out into the world to live

so why do we punish ourselves

When it’s time for them to let go

When we should be praising ourselves

For the independent people we helped to grow