The truth always hurts

I had a little tiff with the mother earlier this week over a comment I made which I felt was an opinion, if not an honest one. It got me to wonder if as much as I value another person's point of view, when it comes to your child's opinion of yourself, how can one find the fine balance between accepting his/her expression of an honest perspective, and brushing away sensitive inner demons of being hurt and insulted? Nobody takes criticisms well, but is a parent immune to those from a child? Is a parent-child relationship devoid of any form of dual-way learning?

I look forward to the day my child can be equipped with all that I can teach such that he/she is my equal, or even better than me in many ways, yet retaining unique traits of who he/she is. But can a parent get so used to deference since day 1, and start to resent the aim to empower, because inevitably this empowerment will encroach on sacred territory, boundaries which may not necessarily apply in the child's point of view. We are all human after all, and who's to say I wouldn't start to develop feelings of inadequacy when I find that there is little more I can offer like I used to in the past? How will I respond in truth when my child starts to improve on my methods, or offer constructive opinions on how certain things in my life should be run? Will I be able to rationalize and say,'Ah the kid is truly independent', without feeling like my ego has been bruised big-time? There will always be problems abound, and in my case, I just wanted to try and do something to improve relations within the family, using better communication and greater compromise as tools. Of course it backfired, but we can leave it for another blog entry.

Perhaps the delivery of it counts, but there are some things even the best delivery cannot ward off. Really, the truth just hurts.