ADVICE FROM A CHILD

We try to raise our children with kind and generous traits that we hope become inherent…oftentimes forgetting how your children are also raising parents…

With that in mind, I shall yield my pen to the chid in me for a day…it seems he’s been waiting patiently all these years and has some things he’d like to say…

Ahem…thank you adult me, for giving me the opportunity to pen this little rhyme…the first thing I’d like to tell all you parents out there is to give us children…your time.

You need to know how important your time is…for every child’s sake…that merely producing children…does not a parent make.

You may shower us with gifts of money…of toys that move and speak…but at the end of every day…it is time with you we seek.

Your eyes are important to us…it’s where we find our self-esteem…for when we see you believing in us…then we are free to dream.

We are children so we love to play…not necessarily for fortune or for fame…and we don’t have to receive a trophy…every time we play a game.

There will be times we struggle…or fail when we compete…and when we fail we need to know you’ll be there to help us back upon our feet.

We need to know…good or bad…from the time our life begins…you will love us as much every time we lose…as all those times we win.

We need you to be patient with whatever problems life will pose…it is through your patience we will prosper and how our confidence and independence grows.

Never be afraid to tell us NO…it will help us in the end…remember we need you to be our parents…we don’t need another friend.

We look to you for guidance…we look to you for love…and sometimes, when we need it, you can give us a little shove.

But be careful not to shove too hard…or to both of our dismays…you may think you’re helping…but you’re pushing us away.

Remember to love us unconditionally…that’s what parents are supposed to do…if you can do that…no questions asked…then we’ll love you unconditionally too.

It’s really not too much to ask…I hope you all can see….by following this child’s advice…there’s no telling who your children will grow up to be.

Because when you stop and think about it…we are only children for a day…before time and life with its responsibilities snatch our childhood away….

Well…my time is up…but let me leave you with one final reminder regarding us smallest family members….you never know what lessons today…tomorrow…we’ll remember.

One final note to adult me….you say this poetry thing is hard..but now that I’ve gotten through it….how hard can it be..if even a child can do it.