Children
*Authors are unknown, unless otherwise noted.
When you view the world through a child's eyes, magic happens.
Life begins as a quest of the child for the man and ends as a journey by the man to rediscover the child.
~Laurens van der Post
See the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child.
~Ron Wild
If you carry your childhood with you, you never grow older.
~Abraham Sutzkever
Each child is an adventure into a better life — an opportunity to change the old pattern and make it new.
~ Hubert H. Humphrey
Invest in the future; have a child and teach her well.
When I approach a child, he inspires in me two sentiments: tenderness for what he is, and respect for what he may become.
~ Louis Pasteur
Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.
~ Phyllis Diller
Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them.
~ Lady Bird Johnson
The best security blanket a child can have is parents who respect each other.
~ Jan Blaustone
There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots; the other, wings.
~ Hodding Carter
Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself...you may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
~ Kahlil Gibran
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
~ Pablo Picasso
All kids are gifted; some just open their packages earlier than others.
~ Michael Carr
Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.
~ John W. Whitehead
Untold treasures are found in the imagination of a child.
Know you what it is to be a child? It is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear…
~ Francis Thompson Shelley
Children live in a world of imagination and feeling.
~ Oehlenschlager
Parents learn a lot from their children… parents of twins learn twice as much, twice as fast!
~ L. Baxter
What one loves in childhood stays in the heart forever.
~ Mary Jo Putney
Between the dark and the daylight, when the night is beginning to lower, comes a pause in the day's occupations that is known as the Children's Hour.
~ Longfellow
Youth is just a moment - but it is a moment you carry forever in your heart.
Life is rich with blessings when you share it with a child.
A child may grow too big for your arms, but never too big for your heart.
Children reinvent your world for you.
~ Susan Sarandon
Make a memory with your children,
Spend some time to show you care;
Toys and trinkets can't replace
Those precious moments that you share.
~ E. Hardt
It is not a slight thing when they, who are so fresh from God, love us.
~Charles Dickens
There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.
~Graham Greene
Youth is, after all, just a moment...but it is the moment, the spark that you always carry in your heart.
~ Raisa Gorbechev
Everything you are is everything to me!
If my heart can become pure and simple like that of a child, I think there probably can be no greater happiness than this.
~Kitaro Nashida
Children are like sponges. They absorb all your strength and leave you limp. But give them a squeeze and you get it all back.
Fingerprints on the wall: They get higher and higher, until they disappear.
If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder...he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it; rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.
~Rachel Carson
The best way to make children good is to make them happy.
~ Oscar Wilde
The soul is healed by being with children.
~ Fyodor Dostoevsky
In raising my children, I have lost my mind but found my soul.
~ Lisa T. Shepherd
Take a child by the hand and you take a parent by the heart.
Children are like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day
Between the dark and daylight,
When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupations,
That is known as the Children's Hour.
~Longfellow
Know what is is to be a child? It is to be something very different from the man of today. It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of baptism; it is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief; it is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear, it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, for each child has its fairy godmother in its soul.
~Shelley
How do I love you?
How do I love you?
Let me count the ways.
I love you on your very best
and very worst of days.
I love to see you laughing and dancing in the rain;
And even when you lose your shoes, I love you just the same.
I love to hear you singing.
I love to see you smile.
I love the way you take each day in your own unhurried style.
I'm happy when you're happy,
and I'm sorry when you're sad.
And even though it may not show, I love you when you're bad.
How do I love you? Well, now let me see...
I love the way you act so brave when you fall and hurt your knee.
I love to watch you sleeping, tucked away in dreams,
I love to hear you whisper all your giant plans and schemes.
I love the way you wear your pants with the front part in the back.
And the way you walk around sometimes with your head inside a sack.
I love to see you deep in thought.
I love to watch you play.
And though I'm sure you'll never know it, I love you more each day.
How do I love you? It's impossible to say.
For if I had a million days and time enough for all the praise,
I couldn't tell you all the ways...I LOVE YOU!
~P.K. Hallihan
When I have said my evening prayer,
And my clothes are folded on the chair,
And my mother switches off the light,
I'll still be four years old tonight.
But, from the very break of day,
Before the children rise and play,
Before the darkness turns to gold,
Tomorrow, I'll be five years old.
Five kisses when I wake,
Five candles on my cake.
~M. Meyer Kort
Climb every fountain,
See every saw,
Dig up every sandbox,
Till you've tried them all.
Swing every swing set,
Balance every beam,
Slide down every slider,
Till you find your dream.
A park that will have,
The best gym stuff in town,
No one else can join in,
Till you want them around!
Climb every fountain,
See every saw,
Dig up every sandbox,
Till you've tried them all.
A 2-Year Old's Birthday
When I woke up
They started singing to me
And saying Happy Birthday
Now what does that mean?
W hy is everyone
Giving me gifts
And lighting a fire
On a cake after dinner?
I'm really not sure
What the fuss is all about
But let's do it again
When I wake up tomorrow!
~ V Sedgwick
Toddler Property Laws
If I like it, it's mine
If it's in my hand, it's mine
If I can take it from you, it's mine
If I had it a little while ago, it's mine
If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way
If I'm doing or building something, all of the pieces are mine
If I saw it first, it's mine
If it looks just like mine, it's mine
If you're playing with something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.
If it's broken, its YOURS!
Toddlers
When God made the motor for toddlers,
There's one thing He forgot, I fear.
Often, the throttle gets stuck on high,
For He forgot to include low gear
Birthday Poem for Three Year Old
Once you were two,
Dear birthday friend,
In spite of purple weather.
And now you are three...
And ‘twas toward the end,
That we grew some together.
How forthful thou,
For soon I know
That you will be much more.
But ‘fore you can be three, be two.
Before be five...be four!
~Walt Kelly
To a Child
The greatest poem ever known
Is one all poets have outgrown.
The poetry, innate, untold,
Of being only four years old.
~Christopher Morley
5 Years Old
Please, everybody, look at me!
Today I'm five years old, you see!
And after this, I won't be four,
Not ever, ever any more!
I won't be three or two or one,
For that was when I'd just begun.
Now I'll be five awhile,
And then I'll soon be something else again.
~Marie Louise Allen
When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three,
I was hardly Me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five,
I was just alive.
But now I am Six,
I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be Six
Now and forever and ever.
~ A. A. Milne
To make a child, God spilled out sunshine
It pooled beneath His Hand to form a smile;
Their eyes He formed from dewdrops in the morning
So sadness could just linger there awhile.
God knit the child's frame together with a spring breeze
So in their every movement there would be grace
And warmed their heart with kindling made of kindness
So all would see the caring in their faces;
And then God wrapped them gently in a rainbow
Spun for their spirit - beautiful to see!
And said: "Whoever looks upon a small child....
Shall know, deep in his heart, that he's seen Me.
Out-of-Doors
The kids are out-of-doors once more;
The heavy leggins that they wore,
The winter caps that covered ears
Are put away, and no more tears
Are shed because they cannot go
Until they're bundled up just so.
No more she wonders when they're gone
If they have put their rubbers on;
No longer are they hourly told
To guard themselves against a cold;
Bareheaded now they romp and run
Warmed only by the kindly sun.
She's put their heavy clothes away
And turned the children out to play,
And all the morning long they race
Like madcaps round about the place.
The robins on the fences sing
A gayer song of welcoming,
And seems as though they had a share
In all the fun they're having there.
The wrens and sparrows twitter, too,
A louder and a noisier crew,
As though it pleased them all to see
The youngsters out of doors and free.
Outdoors they scamper to their play
With merry din the livelong day,
And hungrily they jostle in
The favor of the maid to win;
Then, armed with cookies or with cake,
Their way into the yard they make,
And every feathered playmate comes
To gather up his share of crumbs.
The finest garden that I know
Is one where little children grow,
Where cheeks turn brown and eyes are bright,
And all is laughter and delight.
Oh, you may brag of gardens fine,
But let the children race in mine;
And let the roses, white and red,
Make gay the ground whereon they tread.
And who for bloom perfection seeks,
Should mark the color on their cheeks;
No music that the robin spouts
Is equal to their merry shouts;
There is no foliage to compare
With youngsters' sun-kissed, tousled hair:
Spring's greatest joy beyond a doubt
Is when it brings the children out.
~Edgar Guest
Children are what live on catsup,
Never hang their coats or hats up,
Climb and walk upon all things,
Leap and touch all signs and tall things,
Travel in strange lopes and crouches,
Bubble-gum the rugs and couches,
Test the ice and feed the spiders,
Pitch their tents against all outsiders,
Peel the paint and probe the lichen,
Never, never bring a bike in,
Leave cocoons and toads in hallways....
Melt our hearts at bedtime...always!
~Nonee Nolan
To My Child
You are the trip I did not take;
You are the pearls I cannot buy;
You are my blue Italian lake;
You are my piece of foreign sky.
~Anne Campbell
Children Are...
Amazing, acknowledge them.
Believable, trust them.
Childlike, allow them.
Divine, honor them.
Energetic, nourish them.
Fallible, embrace them.
Gifts, treasure them.
Here Now, be with them.
Innocent, delight with them.
Joyful, appreciate them.
Kindhearted, learn from them.
Lovable, cherish them.
Magical, fly with them.
Noble, esteem them.
Open minded, respect them.
Precious, value them.
Questioners, encourage them.
Resourseful, support them.
Spontaneous, enjoy them.
Talented, believe in them.
Unique, affirm them.
Vulnerable, protect them.
Whole, recognize them.
Xtraspecial, celebrate them.
Yearning, notice them.
Zany, laugh with them.
~Meiji Stewart
There's too many kids in this tub
There's too many elbows to scrub
I just washed a behind that I'm sure wasn't mine
There's too many kids in this tub.
~Shel Silverstein
Children are like kites. You spend a lifetime trying to get them off the ground. You run with them until you're both breathless. They crash... you add a longer tail ... They hit the rooftop ... You pluck them out of the spout... You patch, and comfort, adjust and teach.
You watch them lifted by the wind and assure them that someday they'll fly!! Finally they are airborne, but they need more string and you keep letting it out, and with each twist of the ball of twine, there is a sadness that goes with the joy because the kite becomes more distant, and somehow you know that it won't be long before that beautiful creature will snap the life line that bound you together, and soar as it was meant to soar .... free and alone.
Listen to the mustn'ts, child,
Listen to the don'ts.
Listen to the shouldn'ts,
The impossibles, the won'ts.
Listen to the never haves,
Then listen close to me...
Anything can happen, child.
Anything can be.
~Shel Silverstein
Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for his living,
And the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.
~Traditional nursery rhyme
Handprint Poem
Sometimes you get discouraged
Because I am so small,
And always leave my fingerprints
On furniture and walls.
But every day I'm growing,
I'll be all grown up someday
And all these tiny handprints
Will surely fade away.
So here's a final handprint
Just so you can recall,
Exactly how my fingers looked
When I was very small.
Sometimes my hands are naughty,
So my mama says,
"I will have to spank them,
and send them off to bed."
So little hands be careful,
Of everything you do.
Because when you go to bed,
I have to go there too!
Never Quite Just Right
They say I'm too young,
to cross the street to play.
That I'm too old to cry,
When I don't get my way.
That I am much to big,
to swing on the garden gate.
But very much too small,
to stay up after eight.
I'm young, I'm old, I'm big, I'm small-
Do you ever think, in age and height,
I will ever grow to be just right?
Today you are you.
That is truer than true.
There is noone alive
That is you-er than you!
~ Dr. Suess
Children Live What They Learn
If children live with criticism,
they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility,
they learn to fight.
If children live with fear,
they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity,
they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule,
they learn to be shy.
If children live with jealousy,
they learn what envy is.
If children live with shame,
they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with tolerance,
they learn to be patient.
If children live with encouragement,
they learn to be confident.
If children live with praise,
they learn to appreciate.
If children live with approval,
they learn to like themselves.
If children live with acceptance,
they learn to find love in the world.
If children live with recognition,
they learn to have a goal.
If children live with sharing,
they learn to be generous.
If children live with honesty and fairness,
they learn what truth and justice are.
If children live with security,
they learn to have faith in themselves and those around them.
If children live with friendliness,
they learn that the world is a nice place in which to live.
If children live with serenity,
they learn to have a peace of mind.
With what are your children living?
~ Dorothy L. Nolte
