Friday, January 23, 2009

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse!

Ethan, this is for you. I had thought of posting this when your youngest sibling comes into this world, but after your fuss about going to school this morning, I decided it couldn't wait.
I’d really like for my children to know about hand-me-down clothes and home-made pastries and leftover meals. I really would.

My cherished children, I hope you learn humility by surviving failure and that you learn to be honest even when no one is looking.
I hope you learn to make your bed and mow the lawn and wash the car; and I hope your mom will not give you a brand-new car even when you have graduated from college.

It will be good if at least one time you can see a baby animal being born, and you have a good friend to be with you if you ever have to put your old dog to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I made sure that you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother. And it is all right to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he’s scared; I hope you’ll let him.

And when you want to see a Disney movie and your kid brother wants to tag along, I hope you take him.

I hope you have to walk uphill with your friends and in a town where you can do it safely.

If you want a slingshot, I hope you learn by yourself how to make one instead of buying one.
I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read more books, and when you learn to use computers, you also learn how to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by friends when you have your first crush on a girl, and that when you talk back to your mother you learn what soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on the stove and stick your tongue on something frozen.

I hope you get sick when someone blows smoke in your face. I don’t care if you try beer once, but I hope you won’t like it too much. And if a friend offers you a cigarette or any drugs, I hope you are smart enough to realize that person is not your friend.

I sure hope you will make time to sit on a porch with your parents or go fishing with your uncles.
I hope your mother punishes you when you break something belonging to someone else, and that she hugs you and kisses you when you give her a plaster of paris mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you; tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness.

1 comment:

zorro said...

Tiger....scripted from the heart. just the things my late father taught me in Taiping. Just the type of letter he would also put down on paper. Thanks Tiger.

You, Edwardian...the Tiger gives you away. Me - Georgian. You-Me:Taiping.