If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again | Printable

We all want to be present—to be really there—for the belly laughs and the mischief, for the toddler demands that are so unreasonable they’re funny and for the surprisingly deep conversations with an eight-year-old.

As I said in a recent post, this is our motherhood. We only get to do it once.

If you—like me—could use never-ending reminders (for reals!) to try to savor the moments that we can, I hope this printable poem makes a small difference.

It struck such a chord on Facebook and Pinterest that I thought I’d make a printable version, so we can plaster it to our bathroom mirrors and our fridges, so we can tape it inside our kitchen cabinets and pin it to our office bulletin boards.

So we can remember to savor more.

“If I had my child to raise 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 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 see the oak tree in the acorn more often
I would be firm less often and affirm much more
I’d model less about the love of power
And more about the power of love.”
Diane Loomans

 

I’d love to send you a printable version of the poem above when you sign up for my monthly newsletter!
Just follow that link and check the box for “Printable: ‘If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again,'” and it’ll land in your inbox soon!

Thanks for being here, and if you haven’t already, check out the original post, 32 Ways to Savor Your Children While You Have Them.

---

top photo: the talented Colie James Photography