There is a saying I have come to love; you don’t prepare the road for the child, you prepare the child for the road.

I should begin by saying I am not yet a parent, so everything I say here can be thrown in the trash bin. Although I’ll prefer it if you read it first.
As a parent, with every ounce of love in you, you want the best for your child. (There are exemptions to every “generality”. I hope you are not an exemption to this.)
Our desire for a better future for our children is what makes us educate, discipline, celebrate, entertain and nourish them. All of this is in preparation for their journey along this road called life.

Our walk through life is one filled with surprises, no matter your level of preparation, nothing is guaranteed. It is our experiences with the ups and downs of life that pushes us more, to want to ensure our child is ready to walk this road.

Truth be told, if it were up to most of us, we would have gone ahead of our children and level every hill, smoothen every bump, cut down the thorns that adorn the roadside and ensure our child will journey hitch-free. Alas, it is impossible.

As helpful as wealth can be, it still has a limit to how it can guarantee a smooth ride for your child. Remember the wealthy people caught up in the admission scandal in the USA?

As much as we wish we can, we actually cannot prepare the road for the child. This doesn’t mean we should abandon each child on their journey through life. Neither does it mean the road should be left to get wild and dangerous.

You can repair this road called life, that your child will inevitably walk through, by ensuring you leave a good legacy wherever you go. Be a good neighbour, touch lives, help the poor, be a great employee, be a just employer, never serve below the minimum required.

All this doesn’t guarantee your child will sail through life easily, but it is sure to make someone else’s journey easier. Who knows, your children might be beneficiaries of one of these good seeds you’ve planted one day.

At the end of the day, you can only prepare your child for the road. Just make sure there are no pieces of crap nor shrapnel, that you dumped on this road decades ago, that will come to haunt your kids tomorrow.

Wilson Joshua is a Video Editor, Content Creator, and Creative Writer.
Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. @IJOSWIL

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