Kids are like kites. You spend a lifetime trying to get them off the ground. You run with them until you are both breathless ~ they crash ~ You add a longer tail ~ they hit the rooftop. ~ You pluck them out of the spout ~ you patch and comfort, adjust and teach ~ You watch them lifted by the wind and tell them that someday they will fly! ~ Finally they are airborne, but they need more string. ~ You keep letting the string out but with each twist of the ball of twine, there is some sadness that goes with the joy because the kite becomes more distant and somehow you know it won't be long before that beautiful creature will snap the lifeline that bound you together and soar as it was meant to soar - Free and alone ... Only then do you know that you did your job.
(Erma Bombeck)
The following is extracted from the website of Wendy Fereday Swim School
An old adage compares raising children to flying a kite. Mom and Dad attach their string and run down the road hoping to catch a breeze. The colorful kite bounces in the dust behind them. After a few dismal (and one seriously funny) failures, they climb a hill and, with great effort, manage to entice the kite a few feet into the air. Gent tugging here and there, moving around to find the strongest winds and the little kite begins to fly itself. But just when they think it is safely underway, great danger appears. It dives toward electrical lines and spirals perilously near tall treetops. Parents are gripped by fear. But an unexpectedly timely gust of wind catches the kite, lifting it upward. Mom and Dad begin feeding line as rapidly as they can.
The kite then becomes difficult to hold. Parents reach the end of their line. The little craft requires more freedom. Dad stands on tiptoe to accommodate the tug. The string is precariously clasped between his thumb and index finger. The moment comes; it slips through his anxious fingers and the kite soars off into the heavens.
Parents stare proudly at their kite, now a pinpoint of color in the sky. Proudly and a bit sadly. Their labor – of love, of fear, of fighting, of laughing – is finished. The kite is free. And so, for the first time in so many years, are they.
Most of you are still at the very beginning of the story. Some are still attaching to your sweet little kites, other bumping along in the dust. Still others are starting to feel the winds pick up and seeing glimmers of flight in your kids. Wherever you are, be encouraged that the story doesn’t end here. You are just in a scene – some scenes are beautiful and others hard. Know that there is hope and strength for you when there is no breeze at all and it seems impossible that your little one will ever get off the ground. They will. The scene will change and you will be that parent watching your kite fly higher and higher. Until that time, enjoy this scene and give plenty of grace to your children and yourself.
Thank you for loving your children well!
