Reversal of expectation

Through our children, life has a way of coming full circle. Blunders made in childhood and young adult life find their way into the lives of our children.

Children, especially young adults, tend to mirror the life their parents breathed, albeit subtle, reliving episodes, long ago spent.

Now, as my children get older two are tripping over the same pebbles I did. I caution on the consequences to follow, but alas, just as I didn’t heed my parents, they do not heed me. They listen with their mind but their heart tells them, ‘What happened to you won’t happen to me.’ It does.

We make our mistakes with conscious indifference to the one who took the path before, and while we expect a different outcome, the destination is always the same. The consequence follows the choice, and it is the same for child as it was for parent.

As parents, we cushion the blow, and try not to say, ‘I told you.’ As young adults, we think, ‘I should have listened.’ Will you now?