Children Learn What They Live

 

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.

If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.

If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.

If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence.

If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.

If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.

If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.

If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.

If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,

He learns to find love in the world.

~Dorothy Law Nolte

21 Memos From Your Child

 

  1. Don’t spoil me.  I know quite well that I ought not to have all that I ask for.  I’m only testing you.
  2. Don’t be afraid to be firm with me.   I prefer it, it makes me feel more secure.
  3. Don’t let me form bad habits.  I have to rely on you to detect them in the early stages.
  4. Don’t make me feel smaller than I am.  It only makes me behave stupidly  “big”.
  5. Don’t correct me in front of people if you can help it.  It’ll take much more notice if you talk quietly with me in private.
  6. Don’t make me feel my mistakes are sins.  It upsets my sense of values.
  7. Don’t protect me from consequences.  I need to learn the painful way, sometimes.
  8. Don’t be too upset when I say,  “I hate you”.  It isn’t you I hate but your power to thwart me.
  9. Don’t take too much notice of my small ailments.  Sometimes they get me the attention I need.
  10. Don’t nag.  If you do, I shall have to protect myself by appearing deaf.
  11. Don’t forget that I cannot explain myself as well as I should like.  This why I’m not always very accurate.
  12. Don’t make rash promises.  Remember that I feel badly let down when promises are broken.
  13. Don’t tax my honesty too much.  I am easily frightened into telling lies.
  14. Don’t be inconsistent.  That completely confuses me and makes me lose faith in you.
  15. Don’t tell me my fears are silly.  They are terribly real and you can do much to reassure me if you try to understand.
  16. Don’t put me off when I ask questions.  If you do, you will find that I stop asking and seek my information elsewhere.
  17. Don’t ever suggest that you are perfect or infallible.  It gives me too great a shock when I discover you are neither.
  18. Don’t ever think it is beneath your dignity to apologize to me.  An honest apology makes me feel surprisingly warm toward you.
  19. Don’t forget how quickly I am growing up.  It must be very difficult to keep pace with me, but please do try.
  20. Don’t forget how I love experimenting.  I couldn’t get on without it, so please put up with it.
  21. Don’t forget that I can’t thrive without lots of understanding love, but I don’t need to tell you, do I?

Mary Had A Little Boy...

 

Mary had a little boy

His soul was white as snow

He never went to Sunday school

‘Cause Mary wouldn’t go

He never heard the love of Christ

That thrilled the childish mind

While other children went to class

This child was left behind

And as he grew from babe to youth

She saw to her dismay

A soul that once was snowy white

Had turned an ugly grey

Realizing he was lost

She tried to win him back

But now the soul that once was white

Had turned on Christ his back

She even started back to church

And Sunday School, too

She begged the preacher, “Isn’t there

A thing that we can do?”

The preacher tried and failed and said

“We’re just to far behind

I tried to tell you years ago

But you would pay no mind.”

And so another soul is lost

That was as white as snow

Sunday School would have helped

But Mary wouldn’t go.

Come on parents, it’s time to give God a chance!

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