Friday, February 24, 2012

Kid Life Lessons

Good morning my fellow Rotarians. After spending the past week in Florida, its great to be back to one of my beloved four seasons! Actually, I love having four seasons, but I digress.
 

I spent this past few days at a John Maxwell leadership event with a day working on a national youth initiative we will be rolling out this spring. At one point someone mentioned Paul Harvey’s work to help young people and it reminded me of something he wrote for his grandkids 20 years ago. I thought I’d share it with…

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better.


I'd really like for you to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.


I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.


I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car. And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen. I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.


I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have 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 let him.


On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.


When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head and to read from books.

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


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


I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.


I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle. May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.


I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.


These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

 

And that’s our bottom of the news for this Friday, February 24, 2012. ###

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