Three Ways Parents Can Relate to “ A Story” by Lee Young -From a Parents Perspective

Being a parent is not easy. As parents, we often face insecurities and struggle with finding the right words to tell our children. Often times we are even at a loss for words. It seems as though our children are growing up way too fast and our perfect vision of what we would have been like as parents can often get shattered. This can lead to parents feeling like we are not only letting ourselves down but also letting down our children. We see all of these ideas in the poem " A Story" by Li-Young Lee .

1. As a parent we do not always have the right words to say. Even if we do know what we would like to convey we can struggle with finding the right words or even putting our thoughts into words.

<p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p>

Although parents have many things we feel we often can't find the right words.

In the song "The Mother" by Brandi Carlile she sings these words; "Welcome to the end of being alone inside your mind You're tethered to another and you're worried all the time You always knew the melody but you never heard it rhyme."
Just like our story the father is not able to come up with a story on the spot to tell his child. "Sad is the man who is asked for a story and can't come up with one." What other parent has not had this feeling?

2. When our babies as small we often wonder if they will ever grow up? However one day we catch ourselves realizing our sweet, little, baby is now half our size or even off to college and then sadness and the realization of how fast they are growing up hits us.

It is a bittersweet moment when we realize how fast our children have grown. It is also a bittersweet moment to envision the future with our children and the inevitable day they must leave us and spread their wings and fly. In "A Story" Li-Young Lee writes "Already the man lives far ahead, he sees the day this boy will go."

3. As parents, we often have days where we feel like we have let down our kids.

Have you ever felt like you let down your child? Maybe you felt bad for missing a soccer game or a concert. Maybe you felt like you let your child down and they will give up on you. In the poem "A Story" by Li-Young Lee the author writes of the father feeling like he let down his son.
"In a room full of books in a world of stories, he can recall not one, and soon, he thinks, the boy will give up on his father."

Conclusion

Although the poem "A Story" is written in a third-person point of view we are still able to fully understand and relate to the father in the story. As parents, we often struggle with finding the right words or even struggle to say anything at all. We can relate to feeling our children and growing up too fast and of course, feeling like we are letting our children down.