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A Mother's Reflection F rom th e tim e w hen th e ir little bodies lay helpless in th e ir cradles, I had controlled th e ir lives. I had provided fo r th e ir physical n e e d s; I h ad nourished th em and train ed th em to ea t properly. D ay by day as^ th ey w ere grow ing up I had tried to und erstan d th e ir w ays, teaching th em a t th e sam e tim e how to behave as w as expected of them . T heir years of infancy had ups and downs. I dried th e ir m any te a rs w hen th ey w ere in pain or danger. I rejoiced over th e ir achievem ent, w as saddened by th e ir failings and disappoint m ents. T heir childhood w as h ealthy and happy. In th e ir play and dai ly routine th ey began to develop attitu d e s im p o rtan t la te r in life : a sense of responsibility, respect fo r th e rig h ts of o th er individu als, respect fo r an o th er’s feelings and p ro p erty as well. T hey re ceived th e security of th e ir m o th er’s and th e ir fa th e r’s lo v e: approval fo r th e ir goodness and m oderation, punishm ent fo r th e ir aggressiveness and de structiveness. T here w ere m any questions to be answ ered and often a reassu rin g hand to be given, as th ey crossed th e bridge out of th e ir well protected lives. T heir adolescence w as in te r estin g and challenging. Our teaching of C hristian ethics con tinued its developm ent of th e ir ch a rac te r and in teg rity . T heir h ab its and th o u g h ts as express ed in th e ir behavior would tak e d efiant ch aracteristics as a tu g of w ar betw een b ro th er and sis te r, m o th er and d aughter, or betw een both p aren ts and th em selves. T hey had w ishes to please on th e one hand and to p ro tect w ith open rebellion on th e other, if an increasing m easure of inde pendence w ere n o t allowed. B ut even th en in th e ir desire to free them selves from p atern al au th o rity and em otional dependence, th ey needed th e ir m o th er’s and fa th e r’s love and support. I often th o u g h t about th e day th ey would flu tte r th e ir w ings and fly aw ay from th e hom e n est to s ta rt a new life of th e ir own. Sooner th a n I expected cam e th e tim e w hen I found m yself on th e o uter side of college cam pus gates. On th e o th er w as our boy, handsom e and intelligent, th e sum of eighteen years of effo rt and care, “our very b e st!” And th en I asked m yself m any questions. W ill th e sm all room of a dorm itory replace th e com fortable hom e w here he has lived? W ill he m iss th e hom ey atm osphere perm eated w ith U krainian trad itio n ? Did we teach him to th in k independent ly ? Can he m ake decisions of his own, or will he conform ? W ill he defy or respect conventional ta boos ; can he set his own stan d ards, ideals and guiding values? T hese th o u g h ts often troubled me as m y husband and I began to a d ju st to th is new situation. F o rtu n ately th ere w as our th ir teen-year-old d au g h ter to enjoy. Lively, cheerful, she seem ed to fill th e em ptiness left by our son’s departure. I doubled m y ef fo rts to raise h er in a “b e tte r w ay.” B ut soon I found out th a t th e sam e procedure would not work. A real “teen ag er,” inde pendent in sp irit and action, she had placed m any stum bling blocks in th e w ay of all h er ac tions. A nd I had to swallow such rem ark s as “You are old-fash ioned, M other;” “You don’t un derstand young g i r l s “You keep m e too s tric t;” and so on, w ithout end. Y ears passed, and w ith them all doubts about our son’s p ro g ress. B ut m y fe ars about our d au g h ter grew . She w as so anx ious to leave hom e, to free h e r self from our constant vigilance and supervision. A t firs t she counted m onths until college, th en weeks, th en days. Then th e final m om ent came. W ith te a rs in h er eyes she said, “Good-bye, M other.” R estrain in g m ine, I m anaged to say, “ Good-bye — m ay God bless you. Now you are free . . .” H er room rem ained closed for weeks. My loneliness w as g reat. T here w as a dead silence a t th e dinner table, w here once th ere w as ch atter, laughter, and lively discussion. O ften th e sam e questions w hich I asked m yself about our son would en ter into m y th o u g h ts w herever our d au g h ter w as concerned. B ut today m y fears are gone. B oth children are doing well in college w here th ey are happy in th e ir own sep arate worlds. They are ad ju stin g well in th e ir prep aratio n to lead useful lives in society. I hope th a t, in th e w ords of th e g re a t poet, K ahlil Gibran^ th e torch w hich God has placed in th e ir h ea rts will glow w ith knowledge and beauty, for “it is a sin to extinguish th a t torch and b u ry it in th e ashes.” Mar i e L. Semenyna DAY CENTER FOR CHILDREN On M arch 19, 1964 a m o th er’s m eeting w as called by UNW LA B ranch 78 in W ashington, D.C. They decided to found a D ay C enter fo r pre-school children in order to g a th e r U krainian chil dren fo r pastim e and acquaint th em w ith U krainian tales and songs. C hildren from ages 3-6, of both religions are accepted. The class is held each S atu rd ay from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. a t th e Holy F am ily P a rish H ouse. M others are organized as a com m ittee w ith M rs. D zulynska, as C hair m an. T hey m ain tain a d uty ro s te r so a m other is p resen t each S atu rd ay to help in th e serving of m ilk and crackers to th e chil dren and help w ith o th er duties. The in stru cto r is M rs. Dia- chok, w ith h er teen-age d au g h ter L arissa as h er assistan t. The class began A pril 4 th w ith 9 children present. Now th ere are 22 paying children and 2 non paying. Our T reasu rer, M rs. Za- lucka collects th e fees and keeps th e records. On June 13th a sm all perform ance closed th e season. Fall-Winter Classes begin Sept. 12, 1964 16 НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ — ЛИПЕНЬ-СЕРПЕНЬ, 1964 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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