today, parenting and listening

bare tree and frost protection white in the garden

what wonderful ways
can we discover
today

to be present
with ourselves

and our
children?

they have their own
lives

we can guide
a little

watch and listen
a lot

try to control
and go crazy
or drive them crazy
or both

and still: it's so "human"
to want to "help"
and "we know better"
blah, blah, blah

and sometimes
they do need to be controlled
from wrecking the place
or hurting themselves
and then:
it's just a game
how to take destructive
energies
and put them to use with pottery
or digging
or jumping
or running
it's all
a
chance
to
learn
to dance

it's all
a
chance
to
learn
to
dance

Parenting, Big, Little, Love, and ????

Sure we love
'em,
wash 'em
hug,
touch
smile
clean
hold
caress
feed
protect
put to bed
change the diapers
smile
watch
enjoy

all the good stuff
love
practice for all the years
and days
and hours
we've forgetten

and yet
from their side
we are these seventeen
foot giants
telling "em
what to do
what not to do
something pushing
and pulling just
a bit too hard
for the little bodies
and arms
often voice to loud
and lots
of
no,
no,
no,
no
(and we wonder were the "terrible twos" comes from,
ha)

so,
of couse
usually,
we know,
it's "for their own good"
(honesty might include:
"for our own convenience"
or
"fot the sake of a ritual
my tribe believes in")
but anyway

they are little
our side
means nothing

we are giants
ordering them around

think about how
that must feel sometimes

annoying?
infuriating?

who knows
but worth
pondering

a big side
of
love