Recently I received this forward from a dear friend, which I've printed out to paste on my refrig...This was how it went...
If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again...
by Diane Loomans
If I had my child to raise all over again,I'd finger-paint more, and point the fingers less.
I would do less correcting and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I would care to know less and know to care more.
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.
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.
I'd teach less about the love of power, And more about the power of love.Very nicely put, esp the last line...And succeeds in making you feel guilty too...But any mother knows it's not easy to smile when...
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when you ask the boys to put the dirty dishes in the sink and find broken pieces underneath 'cos they've dumped the steel ones on the glass ones...
- when u enter the toilet and find your 5 yr-old aiming his peester all over the wall and then innocently replying” I wanted to see how far it would go"...waiting fo rthe invention of the decade - a contraption that would ensure that the toilet bowl receives its rightful contents...
- when the same 5-yr old comes to you with something resembling toilet paper saying he found it in the toilet bowl...God, where's that sanitiser...
- when u spend a whole day searching for something he wanted and the 10yr old calmly declares that that now he's changed his mind....shouldn't i know that their tastes change like the chameleon changes its colors???
- when the then 9yr old sees the Whisper packet...loudly exclaims; "Hey why is Amma buying diapers, S is grown up"... when did he come in...Hadn’t I left him outside the chemist's shop?
- when u find little holes in your face towels 'cos they are practicing their cutting skills in the bath
- when u spend a long time making a project for him, difficult, if the only cutting and pasting u know is computer-related,...and then he says Ohhh I forgot to tell u ma'am changed the topic...(I almost cried!!!)
- when the only time they miss u is when they cannot find their clothes or food on the table...
- when he wakes you up from a deep, deep sleep and tells you that he CANNOT sleep so I shouldn't either...
- when toothpaste can be found everywhere but on the brush
- when u find my exclusive shampoo emptied liberally in the tub, why ...for the bubbles, we wanted to have a bubble bath, amma!!!
- when u have pms and you find out your son has volunteered your name for class duty ...
- when you cook and bake and read and clean and work and the little one says mournfully” you are so lucky amma, u get to sit at the computer and do nothing...!” (But that did bring a smile to my face : ))The list is endless...
And I'm just good at being bad at being 'good mamma'!!!
... on second thoughts, it's not yet time for me to paste that poem on my board...not yet.....
