There lived a young guy and an elderly man. One day both of them planted identical saplings inside their respective compound wall.

The young guy supplied his plant with a lot of water and high quality manure. On the other hand, the elderly man gave his plant just a small quantity of water and little manure. The young guy's sapling grew into a lush green, leafy and robust plant. While the elderly man's plant was a near normal but much luxuriant than that of young guy's plant.

One night there was a heavy rain with gusty winds and the next morning both came out to see the fate of their plants. To the young guy's surprise, his plant had been uprooted whereas the elderly man was unharmed.

The young guy's turned to the neighbor and asked, "why was my plant uprooted by the rains despite such good care whereas yours stayed firm and strong despite just a little care?" The elderly man answered, "Look, young man, you supplied everything the plant would need, in abundance. Since the plant did not have to do anything on its own to search for what it needed, the roots of your plants haven't gone deep down. I was supplying my plant just enough to keep it alive. For the rest, the roots had no choice but to go deep down into the ground to fulfill its needs. Since the roots of your plant were superficial the rain and wind could easily fell it down. Since the roots of my plant were deeply grounded it could easily withstand this onslaught of nature."

Isn't this story similar to the way we deal with our children, with our youngsters? Sometimes we use to be so possessive and overprotective of them. We end up caring for them to the extent of pampering them, not giving them their space, the facility, the opportunity and the impetus to grow by taking responsibility. On the other hand, if we just leave them to themselves without proper support and help they may end up taking wrong decisions due to lack of maturity. Caring for our children is exactly like caring for a plant. Under doing it will make the plant die but overdoing it will make the plant weak. It is the right balance that will make our children grow luxuriantly and bear flowers and fruits in the forms of experience wisdom and maturity.

Thanks for reading and your time.

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