Teach your children well

In 1970 I was 16. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young brought out Déjà Vu and my boyfriend of the time introduced me to their music. I knew about Graham Nash because of the Hollies and I lived in Manchester. Graham’s love song for Joni Mitchell, ‘Our House’, was our dream, but we never did get to live together. A few years later I went off to teach English in Morocco humming ‘Marrakesh Express’ as I got on board that train for Casablanca. As I got older and thought about having a family, ‘Teach your Children Well’ was the song that expressed my feelings about having and bringing up children. I have three, and spent many years as a single parent, supporting them, loving them, keeping them safe, providing a roof over their heads, encouraging them to be themselves and follow their dreams, whilst trying not to lose sight of my own in all the responsibility. In 2011 I had the amazing experience of seeing Crosby and Nash at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, and their set included ‘Teach Your Children’, as powerful then as back in the day when I first heard it when I wasn’t much more than a child myself. A couple of weeks ago my nineteen year old son left home. My older two are in their mid and late twenties, and had left to go to university. Neither have come back home, and both are doing well, following their dreams. My youngest son didn’t want to go down the university route and I was seriously concerned that he would find it financially impossible to strike out independently. A live in job has now given him the chance, and I am thrilled. Then suddenly it hit me that I am now on my own – always a parent, but no longer the responsible adult. I tried not to feel tearful, and was doing OK until I realised that I had fulfilled my teenage dream to teach my children well.