Parental Oath

First, do no harm
Not to the heart, spirit, mind nor body of your child.
Do not neglect them in any of these parts, either.
Feed them, treat any ills or hurts with calm kindness, let them question, guide them in discipline and self restraint, encourage their curiosity and intellect, give them social experience, let them grow in trust and experience and courage.
As they grow, see them more and more as the adult they are becoming, while still giving guidance and support.
Guard against your own sins, pour not your negativity and prejudices on young fertile minds.
Do not force, manipulate, bully or abuse any child to your own satisfaction.
Forgive yourself your mistakes, let them learn by them. Be kind to yourself when exhaustion and frustration push you to lash out at those you love, but learn from it, and never hesitate to ask forgiveness and a chance to do better. Keep learning, grow in wisdom, never assume, remember mind reading is a myth.

Your children want to love you. They want to forgive you. If they abandon you, there are decades of reasons why.

If wishes were horses, my father would have been trampled into dust

And it's still going on. Bugger, bugger, bugger. The Chattering Monkey is very ill, before I knew this I rather hoped she'd died.

I have a living experiment that proves that just wishing cannot actually kill anyone, no matter how hard one wishes.

When it all falls apart

This one is weird. Very weird. A change in the pattern.

I can but hope.

Tension builds

The past, the present and the future walked into a bar. It was tense. This is not original.

This is comedy.

Ashes to ashes

Remember now, that thou art dust. And unto dust, thou shalt return. Thou shalt walk that last stretch alone.

No matter who you are.