Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and the 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 soul dwells in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but do seek not make them like you.
You are the bows from which you children as living arrows are sent forth.
Let your bending in the archers hand be for gladness.
Kahil Gibran; The Prophet
