Line by Line - Verse 51, Line 15

it brings them to maturity and exercises no control over them;
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Guiding without interfering,
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Nurtures but does not dominate
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

Lead people
without giving them orders.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

I am not a parent, but my guess is that every parent understands this line well. From what I've seen, parenting is like walking on a tightrope. You want to teach, guide and nurture your children without domineering them. You want to share your perspective and outlook on life without forcing them to accept your will and ideas carte blanche.

When you watch your children trip and fall all over themselves -- as all children do -- many parents want to swoop in to kiss all the boo boos and make the pain melt away. They want to create an environment that shields their children from the ugliness out there in the world. However, when parents fall prey to this desire over and over again, they often times rob their children of the ability to cope with stress and uncertainty in adolescence and adulthood.

To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.