Children can be the most amazing beings as you see their joy and wonder at the most innocent things. They can inspire very deep love as you see the way that their minds work. They are very direct and simple in their thinking and thus provide a counter-balance to the complexity of the larger world.
Children can also break your heart though as you realize that you cannot protect them from being hurt in certain ways. They gap between their understanding of the world and an adult's can set up painful battles. The child does not understand the parent's pain their worries and the complexity of their lives.
Children can simply think that the parent is being unnecessarily and arbitrarily mean. Sometimes the parent's values need to be reexamined as they are outdated and destructive. But at other times the parent has some very useful lessons for the child to learn.
Of course it can be made harder by the fact that the world is not static and so their understanding of the world may well be outdated. On the other hand, some of the battles which the parent had to fight may actually be easier for the child since the world or society has become more accepting.
I have not raised any children myself so I can only observe as an outsider. But I have worked in preschools and public schools and have a younger brother and cousins who I have seen grow up. I am struck both by the responsibility and the potential joy of raising a child as well as the potential pain.
I have felt blessed and humbled by my interaction with children. Children can love you more than you feel that you deserve to be loved. You can find that you are more creative and fun-loving than you thought you were when you work with children. Along with their innocence their sense of humor and their play can be wonderful to be around. Children can be very inventive. The way that their sense of reality is fluid can work quite well in being imaginative and creative.
For those of you who have not had the benefit of working with children I highly recommend the experience as children can teach you a lot. They are truly God's gift to humanity.
