Jigsaw.

Becoming a parent is like inheriting a ten thousand piece jigsaw puzzle.

Partially finished by our parents, their parents, and their parents’ parents.

If we’re fortunate, we receive a picture with the four edges finished, a large part of the sky completed, and all the pieces in good condition.

Some parents inherit a puzzle mostly unfinished. Pieces wrongly forced and jammed together. Hammered into place. Some with pieces chewed, broken, missing, or defaced. No box with a picture to follow. Nothing to guide them. At worst - a pile of shredded mess dumped at their feet.

Whatever condition we inherit - parenting is ensuring we gift our children a jigsaw in better condition than the one we received.