Sowing a seed in the soil, giving the sapling requisite shelter & sunlight and feeding it adequate water daily to see it grow healthily into a plant in its own wake, has so many parallels to bringing up a baby with the right Parenting approach, eventually enabling it's maturity into an individual of its own thinking in the future!
Whats the most synonymous though at a certain time & stage is to prune away the weeds that come along in the garden - those that share the same shelter, benefit as well from the sunlight and partake of the common water for the plant you intend to grow. Left to grow, the weeds too mature into bigger, more stronger beings by taking away what's originally intended for the plant. Left to itself, may be the plant would have grown bigger & stronger without the weeds, but alas!
Thankfully, a master gardener knows the right time to prune away the weeds, keeping them around only so long that he knows he's not mistakenly plucking away at new saplings of the original plant.
In the case of Parenting too, at times, incorrect thought patterns & resultant negative actions do get picked up by kids on the journey to becoming individuals. Left to grow, these could become stronger habits that take away from their growth into inspired & positively influenced individuals - destiny may have a role to play eventually, but the self-effort of each parent on the field of their child's life garden, would have an impact to show & a mark to leave behind.
Just like the master gardener, a conscious parent prunes away the negatives, analyzing and deciphering them clearly from the key virtues & values that impact positively, enabling the transition as the bedrock of individual growth for the child!
Conscious Parents are the Master Gardeners of Nature's most precious creation!
Pic: Our home basil/ tulsi plant grown from seeds sown