Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife Lisa , and their little boy Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.
I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.
"I have never cried so much from reading a book! Every page was filled with deep emotion and I cried on every page I read! As a father of two children, I felt my heart tear out as I read about the pain the mother felt on losing a child. Swarn Lamba has expressed her feelings from her innermost being as she takes you from varieties of emotions - of love, of loss, of agony. Her closeness to her charming child is evident in every word she has written. I am convinced that every parent reading this book will experience part of her pain.
A few weeks ago, my ten year old was lying in bed with me and Marcia and out of the blue, he said, “I’m grateful I have a wonderful life.”
I’m sure you can imagine the surprise and delight I felt hearing my child express such gratitude. It made me think, “Hey we’re pretty decent parents after all.” But seriously, this says a lot about Ian’s attitude.
“Tell me a story.” “Read me a book.” These are words that every parent has heard. And a new British study shows us what we already know, and what we probably don’t do as often as we need to.
“Almost two-thirds of children want their parents to spend more time reading to them before bed, and most prefer Mom’s storytelling to Dad’s,” researchers said last week.
Our children have their own journey. They need not be the same as the parents.
We as parents have expectations of our children, and we get disillusioned when they fall short.
They have their own heart, mind and soul. They also have their own desires and goals. When we curb their desires, they rebel knowingly or unknowingly.
This creates tension and frustration between us as parents and our children. So instead of a loving, harmonious and positive relationship there is sometimes a less cordial relationship.
One of the hardest things for an adult to hear is that a friend of yours has cancer. You've probably already had this happen to a friend of yours, perhaps even a relative. I can pretty much guarantee that as you age it will happen more and more.
Perhaps the only thing that’s worse – hearing a child has cancer.
A couple of months ago my son James got a call from one of his best friends. Mike had been sick for a while, and they just diagnosed leukemia.
My 19 year old daughter, Sahar, was recently asked to sing a hymn in front of several hundred people.
She was given about 24 hours to prepare. Luckily, we had time together as a family which enabled her to practice the respective hymn many times before the event.
About 20 minutes before she was going to sing, she was told that she was supposed to sing a different hymn than the one she was given. There was panic all around! I had gone to park the car after dropping my wife Farzana and my daughter at the location.
Yes you can.
When I look at who gives the most in our society, one group stands out: moms. I know my mom sacrificed a lot here raise five kids. And in many she sacrificed too much. So finding the balance is always key. And it's not easy.
Obviously there are times when you are either a mother or father where there's absolutely no balance. That is the natural order of things.
The trick is to find out how to take care of yourself whenever it is appropriate – that leads to taking better care of your children.
For my son Ian’s birthday, we first had a family birthday and then a friend birthday during the school day. For his friend birthday, he got a few toys, but he also received nine books.
When I came home from work I asked him what presents he received, he said “A lot of books.”
“That’s great,” I said.
His response, “I told Mom you’d say that. I like books, but Dad, I’m only 9 years old.”
That said, he devoured Diary of a Wimpy Kid #2 that day.
My son Tawfiq had an away league game this past weekend - a 45 minute drive away. I take Tawfiq to all the soccer games when I am in town, because it is bonding time for us.
I asked Tawfiq if he was okay to car pool with Peter, the team goalie, because it was not environmentally friendly to take two cars to North Vancouver. I told him that I'd make up the missed bonding time. At first he was surprised that I'd miss his league game. However, he understood my logic.
So he went with Peter.
A few things ensued:
