Let Me Choose…

Ma, Papa…
Sometimes I feel my voice is smaller than your fears.
You want the best for me, I know…
but the “best” feels like your dream, not mine.

What if I fall?
I promise, I’ll get up—
and maybe, in the dust of my mistakes,
I’ll find the shine of my own courage.

Let me choose the road,
even if it’s full of stones.
Hold my hand, yes—
but let me walk where my heart runs free.

Trust me when I say,
I’m not asking to be right all the time—
I’m asking to learn,
to grow,
to see the world through my own eyes.

It hurts when my worth is measured
by marks in an exam paper,
as if the number written there
can decide the size of my dreams.

It scares me when you compare me
to cousins, neighbors, or kids on TV—
as if my journey
has to run in their lanes.

Some days, I fight battles you don’t see—
fitting in,
finding friends,
pretending to be okay
when my heart is tired.

All I really need
is to know you believe in me,
even when I’m still learning to believe in myself.

Because one day,
I want to look in the mirror
and see a face that is confident…
not because you held me back,
but because you let me fly.

And when I fly, Ma, Papa,
I promise—
I’ll carry the sky you gave me in my heart.

From the heart of the writer…

I wish every parent could hear these silent words their child carries inside.
Not spoken in sentences,
but whispered in the way they reach for a toy,
pick their favourite snack,
or hold on to a friend who feels like home.

Let them discover how the world works in their own little ways.
When we give them the freedom to make small, safe choices in the warmth of our love,
they begin to trust the voice inside them.
And in that gentle trust, the first seeds of confidence take root—
growing into the wings that will one day carry them far.

“When you let them choose,
you’re not letting them go—
you’re letting them grow.”