Dark blue sky as the veils of the people in the desert.
Purple red bougainvillea.
Autumn in Rabat in all her Moroccan glory.
Secret garden, mysterious country.
Hidden culture, openness at last.
Young people need structure and some help by planning their lives. Simply and basically stated. We, parents kind of substitute the front part of the brains of our adolescents, the part of the brains that will further grow until they reach the age of 22. As I received a beautiful book written by the Dutch brain researcher, Dick Swaab, my mind is very much attracted by his writings. While having long conversations last week with one of my sisters, a psychologist, we both agreed that our kids will need us at least as much during their puberty years as they needed us being babies, toddlers, small kids. While our children are small, dependent and lovely they just fit under our wings, small kids small problems. Adolescents don't want to fit any longer under our wings, like to go away, sometimes as far as possible, want their freedom and seem to feel that they are able to handle it all by themselves. And we parents often get overwhelmed and feel the growing distance between them and ourselves, our role becomes less evident and sometimes it feels like being on a road without any direction. But the talks with my sister made us both realize that we are probably as much lost as they are and that we should be available for them, while growing and exploring. It's like a garden with all kinds of trees and flowers, sentences and spirits to discover, not easy to label.
Purple red bougainvillea.
Autumn in Rabat in all her Moroccan glory.
Secret garden, mysterious country.
Hidden culture, openness at last.
Young people need structure and some help by planning their lives. Simply and basically stated. We, parents kind of substitute the front part of the brains of our adolescents, the part of the brains that will further grow until they reach the age of 22. As I received a beautiful book written by the Dutch brain researcher, Dick Swaab, my mind is very much attracted by his writings. While having long conversations last week with one of my sisters, a psychologist, we both agreed that our kids will need us at least as much during their puberty years as they needed us being babies, toddlers, small kids. While our children are small, dependent and lovely they just fit under our wings, small kids small problems. Adolescents don't want to fit any longer under our wings, like to go away, sometimes as far as possible, want their freedom and seem to feel that they are able to handle it all by themselves. And we parents often get overwhelmed and feel the growing distance between them and ourselves, our role becomes less evident and sometimes it feels like being on a road without any direction. But the talks with my sister made us both realize that we are probably as much lost as they are and that we should be available for them, while growing and exploring. It's like a garden with all kinds of trees and flowers, sentences and spirits to discover, not easy to label.
