There are no rule books for raising children. Every parent and child is different and has their own unique characteristics. Every family has its own dynamics, and every culture has its own ideals.

Kids are messy and complicated, but they are your legacy. Whether you want to or not, once you have kids, you become a parent.

They appear when we least expect them to; disappear when we most desire them to stay or do a no-show when we expect them to. They do not come with manuals on how to be fixed or dealt with. And they bring into our orderly, pristine adult lives chaos and mess. Yes, they inspire love, joy, and tenderness; not forgetting the other range of emotional repertoire (anger, distress, exasperation, and helplessness) that only these little people can invoke in human beings ten times their size.

They remind us of our past. They inspire us to be better people. They show us our weaknesses and make us confront our fears. They teach us to be patient and kinder beings; to stop and reflect; to forgive and to remember. They bring us to our knees, then build us up and made us stronger. And just as we thought that we have mastered one phase, they challenge us with another.

kids have an innate ability to find that hidden button of yours and pushed it multiple times, then find it again and pushed it a dozen times more. Because laughter and love are the only way to help you stay sane during the tough moments when you really want to throttle the kid. Because by showing them your love despite their mischiefs and misbehavior, you are upholding the higher order of the universe – being an adult. And because that’s also how you show them how you’ll like to be treated when you are a senior citizen.