Khalil Gibran

 

 Your children are not your children.

They are 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 cannot visit, not even in your dreams.