Whilst we’re in ‘lockdown’ and sharing close quarters with our children and partners the phrase ‘nearest and dearest’ comes to mind.
Being so near can mean we can forget that they are dear.
‘We’re all in this together’ has been used ad infinitum and, as these sayings do, it has lost its impact. Perhaps we can think about who we’re together with.
Your children…. Take yourself back to the first time you held them in your arms and felt that gratitude for being given the opportunity to love them and to support them on their path . This is part of their path. As a parent you implicitly made a promise to support and protect them; that responsibility remains. The fulfilment of that responsibility is its own priceless reward.
As we desire to receive grace and respect, so our children deserve to receive grace from us, their first teachers in this journey. Grace encompasses love, respect, honesty and honour. We should therefore remember, however fractious they or we may become, that all our responses, whether praising or constructively reprimanding, should be given with grace.
The difference between one’s love for their child and for a partner is the important fact that it is unconditional – not dependent upon their satisfying one’s own needs or fulfilling one’s predetermined conditions.
Your partner…. Now remember the time that you decided to commit to this partnership. Perhaps it has been a gradual development of closeness and reliance upon one another or maybe a more formal public commitment. This is the person you have decided to emotionally support and from whom you will draw support.