A home is a protective cover!

The calyx with its sepals in the bud covers the petals of the flowers that are about to open.  

The protective function of the calyx is crucial for the flowers to be made ready to endure once opened. 

The calyx encloses the petals. 

When flowers open, they are ready to be exposed to light, wind, humidity and variable ambiences of weather.  

The open flower in the fullness of time appears with its exuberance of colour, fragrance and nectar! The flower is an offering to the beholder!  If Wordsworth seeing daffodils was aroused to write a poem, it was because of the enchanting effect of it on the human soul!

When I noticed an ant feeding on nectar from this flower, I felt even more moved by the gift or offering each flower is! The flower unconditionally offers itself! 

I wonder if parents would think of their children, that they are given to them to prepare them to become an offering !

For that to happen they need to be like the calyx providing a protective cover around them during their growing up and formative years!

What children need is moral conscience, social awareness, self-giving orientation, encounter with their true self and an aspiration to explore their potential and develop them to live fruitfully!

If this is parenting responsibility, then, more is needed by away of interactive ambience at home and in the classroom rooms. Children are to be more than receivers of information and knowledge; instead they are to be discerning and communicative to become themselves. 

A home is like a calyx, offering a formative and protective cover to a child!

One father told me that for the last ten years it was his habit to have a short walk with his two children almost every day, who are now becoming teenagers! He feels that he senses the thought world of his children from this experience. Their mother engages the children for a short time before dinner time to prepare the meal. She is therefore a confidant to her children!

What an example of a protective and formative cover to children !

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)