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01 Published · Nonfiction · Parenting

Birds

What raising children teaches a parent about love, authority, independence, and learning to let go.

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Parenthood reconsidered

Why I wrote it

This book began with a question my daughter asked during an ordinary drive through Karachi. I gave her a short answer that evening. This book became the much longer one.

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Chapter 1 · Where Are the Birds Going?

My daughter had been looking through the window when she asked me, quite casually, “Baba, will these birds go to their homes?”

It should have been an easy question.

On another evening, I might simply have said yes.

“They are going home.”

That would probably have satisfied her. She might have continued watching them for another minute and then moved on to something else. They ask questions that seem important for a moment and then leave them behind while the parent is still thinking about them.

But that evening I did not answer quite so quickly.

A related essay

Teach Your Children to Fly, Not to Stay
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