Having a child makes you a better person? Gives you old age insurance? Not always true. Gita smartly warns against possessive attachment. Read that as a warning on fantasies about how your kids will turn out
I recently met a family friend who told me he was estranged from his adult son. Things soured after the son’s marriage, he said, which led to separate homes and, ultimately, a permanent rupture. In his voice I heard a father’s regret for the loss of the relationship, of course, but equally: relief that they were apart. I wondered if he felt cheated; after all, he had been a model father, his wife a spring of innumerable generosities. Now this child was no longer the adult son they had once hoped for.