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10 NOVEMBER 1999
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CARING

Doing your job

Irma Bombeck, who made us all laugh so much, died in 1996. She left us some moving but realistic ideas about kids

“You don't love me!” How many times have your children laid that one on you? Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic motivating a mother, I'll tell them:

Bombeck wisdom

“Never lend your car to anyone you have given birth to!”

Some mothers don't know when their job is finished. They reckon the longer the children hang around, the better parents they are.

I see children as kites. You spend a lifetime trying to get them off the ground. You run with them until you are both breathless ... they crash ... you add a longer tail. You patch and comfort, adjust and teach “and assure them that someday they will fly.

Finally they are airborne, but they need more string, and you keep letting it out. With each twist of the ball of string, the kite becomes more distant. You know it won't be long before that beautiful creature will snap the lifeline that bound you together and soar “free and alone.

Only then do you know you did your job.

The International Child and Youth Care Network
THE INTERNATIONAL CHILD AND YOUTH CARE NETWORK (CYC-Net)

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