Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Food For Thought


This weekend over on Steady Mom, Kat of Inspired to Action shared the poem, "If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again" by Diane Loomans.  I had read this poem before but was so happy to see it once again.  This time I printed it out and put one copy in my journal and gave S a copy to keep as well.  This poem is a wonderful reminder that childhood goes by WAY TOO FAST and it is important for us to not lose sight of our priorities and make sure that we make every moment count.  My buddy Connie  use to always refer to this quote, "The Days are Long but the Years are Short".   I don't know who said it (maybe Connie will tell us in the comments) but it has always stayed with me and I try to remember it on those days when I am ready to scratch my eyeballs out ;)

Here is the poem.  I hope you will read it, reflect upon it and then go and find a child in your life and get down and PLAY :) 

"If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again"

If I had my child to raise all over again,
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.
I would do less correcting and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging and less tugging.

3 comments:

Connie said...

I got the Years are Short from Gretchen of The Happiness Project.

I love it and this poem because they are awesome reminders of what's important.

MommyLisa said...

That is great. ;) And now I am teary.

jen said...

had oprah on in the background today ... and she had on toni morrison ... who had been on a few years ago ... when she said ... does your face light up when your child walks in the room?
gah.
that killed me.
today that totally killed me.
bc don't we always look at our child kinda critiquely? like we are trying to figure out how to help them be better ... but that maybe they just need us to exclaim happy that they walked back into our space?
so i did.
and also ... because you got me thinking ... have you ever heard of the okee dokee brothers? they are a kids band based out of minneapolis. http://www.okeedokee.org
LOVE THEM. and they have a song that fits this post perfectly. kiddo. love that song. i cry everytime.

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