poems

thanks butterflywings
You are a star!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have some lovely poems there to be treasured.

Glad to be of help!

Great thread!

Thanks Star for the Toddler Laws, thats the one I've seen.

Right, time for bed methinks

Enjoy!

10 Commitments For Parents

1. I will always love and respect my child for who she is and not who I want her to be.
2. I will give my child space-to grow, to dream, to succeed and even sometimes to fail.
3. I will create a loving home environment and show my child that she is loved, whenever and however I can.
4. I will, when discipline is necessary, let my child know that I disapprove of what she does, not who she is.
5. I will set limits for my child and help her find security in the knowledge of what is expected of her.
6. I will make time for my child and cherish our moments together, realizing how important-and fleeting-they are.
7. I will not burden my child with emotions and problems she is not equipped to deal with, remembering that I am the parent and she is the child.
8. I will encourage my child to experience the world and all it's possibilities, guiding her in it's ways and taking pains to leave her careful but not fearful.
9. I will take care of myself physically and emotionally, so that I can be there for my child when she needs me.

No Charge

My little boy came into the kitchen this evening while I was fixing supper. And he handed me a piece of paper he'd been writing on.
So, after wiping my hands on my apron, I read it, and this is what it said:

For mowing the grass, $5.
For making my own bed this week, $1.
For going to the store $.50.
For playing with baby brother while you went shopping, $.25.
For taking out the trash, $1.
For getting a good report card, $5.
And for raking the yard, $2.

Well, I looked at him standing there expectantly, and a thousand memories flashed through my mind. So, I picked up the paper, and turning it over, this is what I wrote:

For the nine months I carried you, growing inside me,
No Charge.
For the nights I sat up with you, doctored you prayed for you,
No charge.
For the time and the tears, and the cost through the years,
No Charge.
For the nights filled with dread, and the worries ahead,
No Charge.
For advice and the knowledge, and the cost of your college,
No Charge.
For the toys, food and clothes, and for wiping your nose,
No Charge.
Son, when you add it all up, the full cost of my love is
No Charge.

Well, when he finished reading, he had great big tears in his eyes. And he looked up at me and he said, "Mama, I sure do love you."

Then he took the pen and in great big letters he wrote: Paid in Full.

Childcare IS Important

"Children are people who are going to carry on what you have started.
They are going to sit where you are sitting,
and when you are gone, attend to
those things which you think are important.

You may adopt all the policies you please,
but how they are carried out depends on them.
They will assume control of your cities,
your states, and your nation.

They will move in and take over your churches,
your schools, your universities, and your corporations.
All your books are going to be judged, praised and condemned by them.
The fate of humanity is in their hands."

Abraham Lincoln

The Blank Page

A child's life is a blank page.
What will the first words be?

Shut up!
Get out of my sight.
Go play.
Don't touch!

You, that child's parent, write upon
These words teach fear.
They register unwantedness.
They say, "I don't love you."

Let your words teach gentleness and beauty.
Let them supply high moral principles,
courage to meet life's disappointments, pride in a job well done.
Use words that reflect your love:

Beautiful, son!
You did a great job.
Don't worry--we'll clean it up together.
I'm so proud of you!
When your child is grown, you will look at him
and see the words you wrote on that blank page.
Write words you will be proud of!

Author unknown

The house is untidy from window to door,
Marks on the walls and food on the floor.

The washing's unwashed
and the dishes are too,
There's scum in the bathroom
And fat on the stew.

There are toys in the passage
And under our feet;
The garden's a jungle
When seen from the street.

So what have I done, then
To earn my repose?
To just look around me
You'd say no-one knows!

I've held a small hand
As her first steps she took.

I've made animal noises
As we read a book.

I've built a mud pie
And admired a snail,

I've rescued the cat
From a grip on her tail.

I've wiped away tears,
And I've listened to tales.

I've used mediation
To get smiles from wails.

So I guess what I've done
Isn't easy to see -
It won't clean the house
And it won't cook the tea.

But if I have helped make a child feel good, know that she's loved and that she's understood, then I know that my work, though not easy to see, is just as important as any could be.

The Shortest Journey

The sweetest moments to recall,
stay locked within our minds...
those moments with our children,
(by far the sweetest kind)

To see our children learning
and growing more each day...
these moments are so precious
and too soon they slip away.

We hold the memories tightly
and time does not impair...
the bond between a mother
and the children in her care.

It seems before we know it,
we blink and they are grown...
from childhood to adulthood;
the shortest journey ever known.

The Children

They laugh with excitement
They cry with sadness
They play with enjoyment
They need mommy.

They see what we show them
They learn what we teach them.

We are their leaders, so why is everyone away from their children.

They need us to hold them,
They need us to console them
They need us to praise them
THEY JUST NEED US TO RAISE THEM.

A Child Is The Greatest Gift

A child is the greatest gift
That our lives can bestow.
It brings the most exquisite joy
That we will ever know.
Some days deliver happiness,
Far more than we can touch.
We need the help of all our friends
To comprehend how much.

And so we thank you for the gifts,
Both those you brought and are,
That celebrate this rich, full life
And its rising star!

Another quote:

We must know that we have been created for greater things, not just to be a number in the world.
We have been created in order to love and to be loved.

-Mother Teresa-

Not a poem but more of a quote...

"When God wants something special done in this world...
He sends a baby and then...
He waits."

Listen to the musn'ts

Listen to the mustn'ts child
Listen to the don'ts
Listen to the shouldn'ts,
the impossibles and the won'ts
Listen to the never haves
Then listen close to me
Anything can happen child
Anything can be.

Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale
Jane Yolen
I am thinking of a fairy tale,
Cinder Elephant,
Sleeping Tubby,
Snow Weight,
where the princess is not
anorexic, wasp-waisted,
flinging herself down the stairs.

I am thinking of a fairy tale,
Hansel and Great,
Repoundsel,
Bounty and the Beast,
where the beauty
has a pillowed breast,
and fingers plump as sausage.

I am thinking of a fairy tale
that is not yet written,
for a teller not yet born,
for a listener not yet conceived,
for a world not yet won,
where everything round is good:
the sun, wheels, cookies, and the princess.

To my dear child

Before you were conceived, I wanted you
Before you were born, I loved you
Before you were here an hour, I would die for you
This is the miracle of love.

HEAVEN'S NURSERY

In Heaven there must surely be
A special place, a nursery
Where ' little spirits ' not fully grown
Go to live in their Heavenly home.

Babies are Angels that fly to the earth,
Their wings disappear at the time of their birth
One look in their eyes and we're never the same
They're part of us now and that part has a name
That part is your heart and a bond that won't sever
Our Babies are Angels, we love them forever.

If this is not a place where tears are understood,
Where do I go to cry?
If this is not a place where my spirits can take flight,
Where do I go to fly?
If this is not a place where my questions can be asked,
Where do I go to seek?
If this is not a place where my feelings can be heard,
Where do I go to speak?
If this is not a place where you'll accept me as I am,
Where can I go to be?
If this is not a place where I can try to learn and grow,
Where can I just be me?

The Smile Starter

Smiling makes you happy
When you are feeling blue.
When someone smiled at me today
I started smiling too;
I passed around the corner
And someone saw me grin
When he smiled I realised
I'd passed it on to him.
I thought a lot about that smile
And realised its worth
A simple little smile like mine
Could travel round the earth.
So, if you see a smile begin
Don't leave it undetected
Share that smile with everyone
Let no-one be neglected!

Safe Sets?

Every morning in assembly
Judith Jones is by my side,
Far away from weeping Wendy
Ever since the day she cried.

Then in Science I'm with Susan
Down in Art I paint with Paul
Mike and I make lovely music
When we're singing in the hall.

Peter is my little partner
When we're paired off in PE,
Craig and me go well together
Cutting card in CDT.

No-one sits by me in Reading
(Miss says I can't settle down)
I prefer it best in Drama,
When the whole class run around.

Fay's my friend when we are Writing -
Just because we can't do double,
Usually we end up fighting,
Then we get into awful trouble.

All our sets are in a folder
By the infant coats and hats,
So, when we are much, much older
We'll know where to sit our SATs.

Everybody's very pally
No-one has a chance to moan:
Well there's one, his name is Ali -
He draws pictures, on his own.

Just found loads more from all the handouts I received at courses when I was working.
It's great 'cos I don't really want to go to sleep yet - DD's first night in a 'big girl's bed' and I want to be up in case she falls out (she probably won't now I've said that!)

Some of them might not be relevant to you, franyfroo, but I think it's nice to share them anyway

You Have To Be Deaf to Understand

What is it like to 'hear' a hand?
You have to be deaf to understand!

What is it like to be a small child
In a school, in a room void of sound -
With a teacher who talks and talks and talks;
And then when she does come around to you,
She expects you to know what she's said?
You have to be deaf to understand.

Or the teacher who thinks that to make you smart,
You must first learn how to talk with your voice:
So mumbo-jumbo with hands on your face
For hours and hours without patience or end,
Until out comes a faint resembling sound?
You have to be deaf to understand...

What is it like to comprehend
Some nimble fingers that paint the scene,
And make you smile and feel serene
With the 'spoken word' of the movig hand
That makes you part of the world at large?
You have to be deaf to understand.

What is it like to 'hear' a hand?
You have to be deaf to understand!

kidsrus:

FAIR DINKUM

Dear White Fella
Coupla things you should know

When I born, I black
When I grow up, I black
When I go in the sun, I black
When I cold, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black
And when I die
I still black

You White Fella
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in the sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you grey

And you have the cheek
To call me coloured!