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Abdul-Rehman Malik, journalist and broadcaster

As a veteran Dad (and now Granddad) Chris, I鈥檓 sure you鈥檝e come to terms with the astonishingly random and downright embarrassing things your children do, have done and probably continue to do.

This past December, our family spent a few weeks in New York City visiting friends and relatives. I remember my parents always reminding me to be wary of strangers 鈥� 鈥渟tranger, danger鈥� they said. It wasn鈥檛 an excuse to be impolite, but to be careful. My wife and I have clearly not done a very good job of passing this on to our son.

New Yorkers are already a chatty bunch but my son tried to best them. There wasn鈥檛 a subway ride or walk in the park that wasn鈥檛 punctuated by him walking up to random folks and demanding answers to his entreaties: 鈥淗ello Sir, would you like to be my friend?鈥� or 鈥淟ady, would you like a present?鈥�

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Over the course of week he gifted away a pair of my wife鈥檚 knitted gloves, several bars of chocolate and a tin of English biscuits that he insisted that he鈥檇 brought all the way from London for an old couple eating lunch on a park bench.

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More recently, he asked his mother what 鈥渟pecies鈥� a group of nearby diners were at a restaurant. 鈥淎re they a London species?鈥� he asked with great concern.

The Prophet Muhammad once tenderly embraced one of his nephews praying, 鈥淥h God, grant him wisdom.鈥�

My son turns four years old next week and as he grows more confident, curious precocious, I find myself praying for the same thing.

What more does a father want than to see his child surpass him? Not in wealth or accolades 鈥� that should be pretty easy to do in my case 鈥� but in the things that matter most: wisdom, generosity and love.

As the Waterboys might put it, I might have seen the crescent, but I want my son to see the whole of the moon.

When he blows out candles on his birthday cake next week (and then relights and blows them out again, because at that age once is never enough), I will cheer 鈥� and hope that I鈥檒l be able to give him what he needs to navigate a world of unicorns and cannonballs 鈥� of wonder and danger.

It is probably the best gift I can give.听