Self-reliant

As I walk

I notice interesting things

With curiosity

From distance, I saw a dad

And his two small daughters

Elder was riding her small cycle

In front of their shop

While the younger one watched

Her sister riding the cycle

It was evening

It was time for tuitions

Dad started his bike

I thought he was going to drop the elder one

At her tuition center on bike

He placed her bag on his bike

But he just took his younger girl

And made her sit comfortably at the front

And he moved slowly

I saw the elder girl riding her cycle

Following him slowly

I realized that he was just

Giving her the confidence

To ride her cycle along that road

So that

She will be able to ride one day alone

To her tuition home

Without escort of her dad

It is quite interesting

As I’ve seen many parents

Always taking their daughters to places

And never letting them to travel alone

That deprives them valuable experience

Of becoming self reliant

As they have to wait for parents or siblings

Even to take them to their friend’s home

One can say it’s not safe to travel alone

For them

But then, nowhere is safe for anyone

Only with opportunities to do things alone

We get to understand our frailties

Then from experience, we become courageous

And in adverse conditions

Courageous people never buck down

They will try to find a way out of tricky situations

I feel we should protect kids

But we should give them confidence

To be self-reliant

As when they grow up, they have to face life

And this big damn bad world on their own

We can’t have them scared then

By over protecting them now

As it can make them too dependent

And it will just keep parents worried

Even when they are grown up

Feeling that they haven’t travelled alone before

Just let the beautiful angels

Learn to be self-reliant

You will see them facing life boldly and succeeding

I wrote this poem after being inspired by a dad i saw on road,who lead his daughter to her class.It's important that girls are given confidence to be self-reliant right from childhood.It will help them to face life in a better manner.