family & irony Sara on 03 Dec 2006 05:46 am
Irony: parent vs. child
On Salon.com this week, an article was published titled “A mother’s love” by Sallie Tisdale. Definitely the type of title I am not normally drawn too – as it sounds so corny and all. But for some reason I clicked on it and started reading and couldn’t stop. It was a sad and poignant piece of writing and I found it quite moving. So, in my new series on irony, I thought I would include a pull quote from the text.
“The task of children is differentiation, and that means difference — different values, different goals. The struggle of a child is partly the struggle to be seen as something other than a child, until it becomes true. The struggle of a parent is that we never stop feeling like a parent, and a little responsible for their behavior. These are complex and textured relationships; we want them to grow, we want them to stay, and they want the same impossible things.”
on 05 Dec 2006 at 5:53 am 1.Nancy said …
Obviously now you know how I feel. You will always be my little girl and I will always be your mother even though at times it will irritate you because you are now a woman. How well I understand since I remember the time when I said I would never do my children like my mother did me. How wrong I was! Mothers never retire even when their children grow up and have families of their own.