Feeling proud is a pleasant sensation that gives satisfaction, which is not the same as being proud. How curious this word has two ways of being interpreted. Being a proud person is not a virtue; but being proud of something, of someone, is beneficial.
At my age, I feel that what fills me most with pride in my life are my children. Raising children is, if you want, a common place; but knowing that that upbringing gave the best fruits, when one has had to combine work and upbringing, is a fortune.
Spending so much time on the street usually steals many moments from children, which after a while hurts, valuable time that is later missed; but the way one has worked the time that one dedicated to them: in conversations, company, walks, support, listening and responding in time, resolving conflicts, giving them responsibilities, which are theirs and then seeing the fruits, one feels and says: "I did the best I could."
Yesterday I was just thinking, while watching a mother looking for some drawings for her first grade son, that at this time raising children for me would be cumbersome. The father has to be in this present, after COVID, very involved with the school. There is a perennial conversation between teachers and representatives to help children at home to make commitments, now it is not called homework.
When my children were little I understood that they were adapted to the level they were studying and that they had the ability to get out of their tasks by themselves, I gave them the materials: books, notebooks, sheets, cardboard, colors, scissors, glue and everything they needed to do their activity; but they had to do everything else. Right now I see the child playing in the yard and the mother cutting and pasting, I don't understand it.
I see my children autonomous for a long time and raising their children, my grandchildren, in an exemplary way, which also makes me proud.
My grandchildren are well-educated children who do some extra work besides school, and who come home happy and ready to do their homework.
Like any child, they can sometimes get disorganized, shout, run around, and that is normal; but every time I approach one of them, I get the love that has been planted in them, courtesy, good manners. When I go out with them on the street, they greet other people and I see them maintain norms of social interaction, which are beneficial for their development, to be adults with principles and values, so necessary in society.
I wish I could see them all grow up, that would also fill me with pride. They already make me proud with their actions and I think that pride has to do with the loving look that one gives them. If each person knew that they are loved and the pride of their parents and grandparents, I am sure that the world would be different.
Thank you, @ericvancewalton for promoting this type of space to review our memories and capture the best.
Thank you for your kind reading.
My content is original.
I have used Google translator.
My own images.