過ぎ去っていく子育て期
Parenting Period Passing Away
公園で子供と遊ぶ父親を見かけた。少し前の自分の姿だ。一番小さな子供が小学校４年生になり、子乗せ自転車で公園に送る日々はもう来ない。幼稚園、公園に都合１０年通った。名残惜しいけれど、もう多分これで十分だろう。Just saw a father playing with kid in the park. It was me sometime before. Youngest one is now 4th grader of elementary school, so days bringing kids to park by bicycle is over. Going kindergarten and park for 10 yrs all together. Become sentimental but that should be enough probably.
子供たちは「肌を離すな」「手を離すな」の時期は過ぎ、「心を離すな」の時期に来ている。Time passed for 'keep skin touch' and 'hold hand' and now in the period of 'hold heart'.
親が子供に与えられる最大の宝物はなんだろう？それは教育だ。親鳥は巣立つヒナに、エサの取り方を教えるが、エサを与え続けない。What is the most precious treasure parent can give to kids? It is education. Parent bird shows kids how to get bait but not keep providing bait itself.
今は中二病の真っ最中で大変だけれど、何年かの後には、宝物で一杯の袋を持って、家から巣立って行って欲しい。They are all in the middle of difficult teenager crisis period, but I wish, some years later, they all leave home on their own with big sack full of treasures.