Beyond the Cave

Why did Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai bring his son Elazar into the cave when the Romans were only after him? And why do people cut a three-year-old's hair at his kever on Lag BaOmer? A Gemara in Makkos says a mother should have a child like Rabbi Shimon or else not give birth at all, and Rashi softens it into a tefillah. Rabbi Asaf Prisman offers a thought of his own that ties the cave, the haircut and that sentence together, and what it asks of parents who work hard for their children's chinuch.