English
EspañolWe educate our children because we love them. We cultivate their growth, correct mistakes, and defects, and prune crooked and harmful branches with the ways of love, employing patience and not anger, affection, and tenderness, never mistreatment. We reveal to them their talents avoiding insults and scorns. Our love compels us never to consider a child too far gone. Let him feel our fidelity and the trust we have in him.
Text
“Children who are lovingly corrected feel cared for; they perceive that they are individuals whose potential is recognized.” (The Joy of Love, n.269)
Commentary
As a child, I occasionally complained when my parents corrected my behavior. I may have even wished they were more similar to my friend´s parents, less strict, and more condescending.
Now that I can look back and see things from the mature perspective of an adult, I am grateful to them for their timely corrections and even certain restrictions. I understand how these corrections were good for me and reflected my parents´ genuine interest in my growth. They pruned me because, like good gardeners, they loved me and wanted my true self to be beautiful.
I understand that it must not have been easy for them either. The most comfortable thing would have been to leave me unaware of what was right, convinced that I was always correct about everything, and thus, my parents would have spared tantrums, arguments, and moments of tension. On the contrary, they made life difficult for themselves in an attempt to demonstrate the love they had for my siblings and me.
They did not leave us, like neglected soil, at the mercy of weeds. Just as good gardeners, they went through the trouble daily with great artistry and good love to garden us, body and soul, and I could never thank them enough for it. I hope I shall be able to do the same for my children. For the time being, with good humor and patience, I am prepared for my kids not to understand my actions in their early years.
