On Children by Khalil Gibran

Your Children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's
longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you,yet they
belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your
thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts,
You may house their bodies but not
their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house
of tomorrow,which you can not visit,
not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,but seek
not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries
with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of
the infinite,and He bends you with
His might that His arrows may go
swift and far.
Khalil Gibran
The Prophet