The Parent’s Tao Te Ching: A New Interpretation – Ancient Advice for Modern Parents
It is said that the teacher appears when the student is ready. The same goes for books. You can have them on your bookshelf for years, and then find them at a precise moment, take them in your hands, sit down with a cup of warm tea, and be inspired.
Some of these books hold a story that will resonate. Others offer inspiration or guidance for something we are working with. The Parent’s Tao Te Ching is a book of wisdom. I needed to be ready to understand the depth it offered between the lines before taking it into my hands. So it waited.
The Tao Te Ching is an ancient Chinese text considered to be written by Lao-Tzu. It is short and focused, including 81 chapters of wisdom. I consider myself a new student of the Tao Te Ching. Meaning that I know I am yet to understand its depth. Both the Tao Te Ching and The Parent’s Tao Te Ching showed up only when I was ready.
The Parent’s Tao Te Ching: A New Interpretation authored by William Martin stems from Martin’s understanding of the essence of each of the 81 chapters. In this important book, he relates this essence to our walk as parents.
When a parenting question comes my way, and the resolution is not fully clear, I take up this book, offering ancient advice for modern parents, and randomly open it. Like with oracle cards, the answer is always there. The perspective is inspiring, offering profound and needed wisdom.
#42 – Befriend Solitude
“Learning to handle the many moods
and activities of life
requires solitude.
Do not let the demands
of an overly active world
rob your children of their peace.
Constant stimulation
without the balance of quietness
creates chaos.
The child who early befriends solitude
becomes one with all that is
and inherits everything.”
(The Parent’s Tao Te Ching: A New Interpretation; William Martin; 1999; p.73)
You won’t necessarily agree with all of the wisdom offered. Each family is unique.
This said, I feel this is a book that every parent walking with spiritual awareness should have on their bedside table.
The Parent’s Tao Te Ching: A New Interpretation
More books applying the Tao Te Ching to Parenting
William Martin is not the only one who has taken the essence of the Tao Te Ching (which is also a translation, involving interpretation) and applied its wisdom to parenting or motherhood. The more I searched, the more variations I encountered.
Two such examples are:
The Tao of Motherhood by Vimala McClure
The Tao of Parenting: The Path to Peaceful Parenting by Lisa M. Smith
Reading them, you will notice the differences in the interpretation and the emphasis each writer gives to the same original verses. Which brings us back to the importance of self-referencing.
Enjoy!
Find out about more recommended books HERE.
