February: The Month of Love... Parental Love

The wisdom gained in retrospect, once becoming a parent, is invaluable because it could never be understood in the shoes of a child.

by Sunanda Bhaumik 
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Since it is February, the month that celebrates love, I chose to talk about a special kind of love.

A love which is near and dear to my heart, Parental Love.

I have been blessed with a set of parents and the gift of children, hence becoming one myself, so I have experienced all the manifestations of this love. The wisdom gained in retrospect once becoming a parent is invaluable, because it could never be understood in the shoes of a child.

Only once you are a parent or a guardian can you understand a lot of the reasoning and loving behind a parent’s care. As a child, a parent’s strictness may seem unfair and mean, but their foresight far exceeded our limited perspectives and emotions. There were emotions we may not even had yet, and this signifies the gap in emotional understanding between parents and children.

For example, the feeling of motherly love I felt when I held my children after each of them were born is something, they may never experience the love I felt in that moment, until that moment comes to them in their lives.

​Yet and still, despite the differing levels of experience, a child still connects with a parent. With the guidance of a parent, a child comes to understand that the help which comes in a troubling situation, and the warm embrace of a parent’s arms, the sacrifices, these symbolizes the love parents and children share.

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Sunanda is a Lead Teacher in an Early Childhood classroom. You can reach her here.

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