My father sent to me this message today.
I'm sure many of you have read it before but it is worth reading again.


CHILD RAISING

Paul Harvey Writes:
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 them 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.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your dog put to sleep.

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. 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.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him.

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

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.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one. I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head. I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn you 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 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.

Paul Harvey.. Good Day!


My father was and still is a good father to me and my brother and sister.
I hope I can be just as good with my child as he was with his.
Wife and I are expecting our first child in December.

Quoted: That pretty much summed up my upraising.

Mine too, even though I am in my 30's.

I feel that the kids that are 20 something now missed lots of these moments. Too many are urban raised, missing a father, and learning how to socialize in front of a television.

Agreed.  My wife and I are expecting our first in March, and I am doing my best to make her a stay-at-home Mom.  We will also homeschool, and I HATE tv.