Watching her walk down that beautiful aisle brought many emotions within me as my mind quickly run to the future as I imagined that one day I would be part of the party giving away my child to another person. I imagined her as a bride and my eyes watered.
It was in that moment and several other times that I decided I needed to learn to systematically let this child go. Recently a discussion among my high school classmates reminded me of this decision. For many of them the mere thought of even letting a child out of sight gave them tummy aches from anxiety.
I asked myself yet again how much am I holding onto the children? Some parents will never allow their children to visit except to grudgingly stay at the grandparents and the parent will be calling every hour just to ensure the children are okay.
Many 13-year-olds are not in position to take themselves away from home and back because it’s the most unimaginable thought for the parents.
They are always picked and dropped at every destination despite the fact that they drive past many younger children who are familiar with their neighborhood and can freely take themselves to several places.
The parents imagine all the possible dangers out there and are sure they must never let the children out of sight.
But these same children who can operate smart phones but are not able to cross the road shall be competing in the real world with children who have been taking themselves to and from Nakasero Primary School from Primary Two.
These shall be their contemporaries in just a few years to go and one asks the question, how will they cope when that time comes?
Back then, I learnt it is only God who really takes care of us let alone our children. We can never care enough if the Lord isn’t taking care.
When we believe that the children are not safe unless we are available to manage the situation, we place ourselves in the place of God almighty, the one who sees all and protects us. We are indirectly saying His protection isn’t good enough.
Of course, we have to play our part as responsible parents but we can’t love our children into numbness, totally incapacitated to face the challenges and realities of the real world.
At some point every parent must learn to let go and the sooner the better.
