Al chet for my Kids

For the sin of telling you to work it out with your brother without caring to hear the details

And For the sin of not wanting to listen to the recounting of the fire truck passing with sirens wailing on the way home from school

For the sin of not giving you my undivided attention while I was responding to email

And For the sin of spending more time at work than at home

For the sin of not playing catch because I was too tired

And For the sin of not reading you a story before bed because it was too late

For the sin of not attending to you because of the more pressing needs of your brothers and sisters

And For the sin of lecturing you instead of teaching you

For the sin of not listening to you more and talking less

And For the sin of not getting to know you as well as I should have before you left home

For the sin of not learning what interests and excites you

And For the sin of not remembering which of you likes and dislikes which food

For the sin of yelling first and thinking later

And For the sin of dampening your excitement in new experiences with overprotectiveness

For the sin of not wanting you to make your own mistakes

And For the sin of not taking your dreams more seriously

For sin of being the human that I am and not the superhero that a parent needs to be and is in the eyes of a child

And for the sin of not repenting all of this sooner