The Last Lullaby

Sing me a lullaby
Its time I bid goodbye
Ma, sing me a lullaby
Before I close my eyes

Sing me a lullaby
A different world awaits
Ma, sing me a lullaby
They say I'm already late

Sing me a lullaby
Its time I sleep
Ma, sing me a lullaby
Try not to weep

Sing me a lullaby
The angels are here
Ma, sing me a lullaby
They'll take care of me, have no fear

Sing me a lullaby
I wish to leave with my head in your lap
Ma, sing me a lullaby
Its time for the last nap

Sing me a lullaby
As I get ready to leave
Ma, sing me a lullaby
When im finally relieved

Sing me a lullaby
Dont cry for me
Ma, sing me a lullaby
And set me free

For parents who know what's best for their child

"What do you want to become"?

"Engineer! He will be an engineer."

"But what do you want to become"?

"Didn't I just say it? My son will be an engineer. He is great in Mathematics. There's a lot of scope for engineers these days. He will have a job even before he steps out of college, but I'll send him to US for higher education. He will take up a job there. He'll settle in the US and lead a good life. I'm going to be so proud of him"

--

"I want to study literature Dad."

"Literature! It has no scope in the market"

"But I like literature"

"Well, liking it isn't going to help you pay your bills or feed your kids in the future"

--

"Dance is for people who aren't smart enough for anything else."

"But I am smart and I can dance too. What's wrong with that?"

"I didn't educate you so much for you to leave it all and become a dancer."

"Education made me wiser, dance made me happier"

"Happiness won't secure you a career. Don't get carried away by all that they show on T.V. Real life is not like that. You need to secure your future. Dance can't help you do that, a stable job or a business will."

"But I can build a career out of dancing too."

"You can dance all you want in your free time,but I'm not going to let you take it up full time"

--

Strikes a chord? Parents often go out of their way to give the best to their children, sometimes so much, that they end up crushing their dreams. Most times, all that a child needs is not guidance, but support. If your child can be old enough to vote for the fate of his country, he is old enough to chose his fate too. When you make decisions for your child, you unknowingly tell him that he isn't capable of taking decisions, even for his own life.

You definitely have seen the world and life better and want your child to learn from your experiences. When you force your child to follow a path that you know is the best for him, know that he is going to live your life, not his own. You may want to secure his future and provide the best for him, but what if he doesn't want the best? What if the best doesn't make him happy? There is nothing worse than the ghosts of unfulfilled dreams haunting your present. He will always have a little something troubling him in the back of his mind, wondering how would life turn had he not respected you so much and walked away from his passion. Every morning when he wakes up he'll wonder if he would have had to force himself to wake up had he been working in a field he loved. Every night when he goes to sleep, he'll have an incomplete feeling haunting him. All his hard work put into achieving success will have no value when he's not happy. You'll think you did the best for him when you see him earning a fat pay cheque, when he buys the latest car and a huge house. He may stop complaining, but he wont ever stop wondering. On his death bed, he won't have the fat cheque by his side, but he will have his regrets, regrets of not living life the way he wished. Is that what you would wish? 

It's nice to show your child a path to walk on, but moulding that path your way isn't. Be there for your child, let him make mistakes and fall, but what if he doesn't? What if he is really good at what he believes is the field for him. Even if he isn't, let him fall and make mistakes. Remember, a messed up career is way better than a messed up life. You may be taking away his chance of being best in his choice of field and instead pushing him to be moderate in your choice of field. Nothing that's forced on someone can bring out the best in him.

Don't let your child be boggled by your expectation and the society's. Sometimes, all one needs is to be happy, not successful. Give them the gift of letting them follow their dreams, no matter how unsure you are. How else will he learn to fly? What would you rather want? Your child to be happy and do his best in a field he loves or be successful yet not able to enjoy it with regrets stacked in his head?

Don't convince your child to give up on his dreams, convince yourself to stand by him instead.

P.S. This holds true for a doting parent's son or daughter.

Growing up is over rated!

No one ever told me that  growing up is over rated
They just smiled, when in a hurry to grow up my childhood I wasted
They didn't speak of friends falling apart
They didn't speak of people who would break my heart
They didn't tell me freedom can be suffocating
They didn't  tell me responsibilities will cut my wings
They didn't  talk of dreams dying slowly
They didn't   talk of the disappointments I was yet to see
They didn't mention fear and pain
They didn't  mention the tears I would soon hide in rain
They hid from me the secrets of a mundane life ahead 
They hid from me the monsters that would reside in my head
They lied about insecurities I would soon feel
They lied about wounds that would never heal
They showed me a different world
Different from this one, so heartless and cold
And when I complained seeing the unexpected and cried
They laughed saying I need to grow up and keep the immaturity aside!

Ten things you need to get rid of

1. A job that helps you afford a more than comfortable life but doesn’t give you the time to live and enjoy it.

2. A relationship that's pulling you down. Relationships are supposed to bring out the best in you, if it doesn’t you’re probably in a wrong one. Worse, if you feel disrespected in a relationship, wear your running shoes and run as fast as you can. When you're out of your mean partner's mean radar, you'll see there is someone out there who will treat you just the way you deserve to be.

3. A grudge on someone for something that they did long back. Learn the art of letting go. Not as easy to implement as it is to advise, but definitely worth the effort. Buddha said “Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Let go off the poison.

4. Clothes that don’t compliment your body type.

5. Gifts from an ex. You may want to keep it as a memory of good times, but how are you going to let go off the relationship when you can’t even let go off its memoirs? Yes, you totally deserve the iPad they bought you or the super expensive bag they gave you on your last birthday, but that’s no excuse to hold on to something, unless you are good friends now, and by good I  mean genuinely good friends (Yea, apparently that’s a possibility, though very rare).

6. Footwear that haven’t touched your feet for over a year now.

7. Taking debts that you could live without.

8. Index finger! Yes, I meant that, though not literally. You don’t need to point that finger to blame people or situations for your failure. When life gives you lemon, make grape juice out of it and let the world wonder how the hell you did it. Don’t sit there and blame life for the bad quality of lemons.

9.  Aerated drinks. Go google the damage it does to your body. Now!

10. Comfort zone. Nothing more dangerous can come in such an attractive package. Before it slowly eats you off and makes you rot in one place, push that comfort zone away. Step ahead into a zone that intimidates you, that is scary and makes you feel like if you dare you’ll probably end up failing and people are going to laugh at you like they do at clowns in the circus. Nevertheless go ahead. Because you can never realise your true potential otherwise. It’s better to feel scared than to feel dead within while you are still alive.