Being there for our children

“I want what is best for my children and sometimes I question what is the best. This world can be so cruel at times and you may try to plan out so much and then something happens and it is like poof, it goes up in flame. If I could have done it all over again I would have but we all know that is not possible…” she said, sounding sad and I know the sentence was not complete but it was as if she did not know what else to add.

This mother has been agonising for a while over the future of her two sons and she blames herself for not giving them a clear-cut direction. She made some decisions that directly impacted their academic development and that she regrets.

“I blame myself, yes but sometimes I say if they could have tried a little harder and at other times I am just unsure what to say. Every parent, I believe, wants their children to grow and be productive, they don’t want them to have to be scrounging for a living,” she told me one day as I was assisting to ensure one of them returned to his studies.