This poem is another proof of the brilliance of khalil Gibran, out of many other  poems of his, this I find very enchanting. Those parents who believe and consider children to “oblige” to their demands, considering themselves as gods (in short fueling their egos). I think it is a good answer.

For those about to be parents, it is a cautionary note, not to fool themselves into believing that they hold any command over anyone. For circle of life has power beyond few immediate living beings.

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you.
And though they are with you, 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 souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite.
And He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hands be for happiness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
So He loves the bow that is stable.

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