The following are exerts from "Life's Little Instruction Book" Overpay good babysitters. Keep the porch light on until all the family is in for the night. Keep a well-stocked first-aid kit in your car and at home. Leave a quarter where a child can find it. Make the rules for your children clear, fair, and consistent. Don't' think that giving a gift substitutes for your presence. Everyone loves praise. Look hard for ways to give it to them. Watch "The Andy Griffith Show" to help put things in perspective. Allow your children to face the consequences of their actions. When you say "I'm sorry", look the person in the eye. Don't trust your memory; write it down. Set aside your dreams for your children and help them attain their own dreams. Don't eat any meatloaf but your mom's. Every so often let your spirit of adventure triumph over your good sense. Hold your child's hand every chance you get. The time will come all too soon when he or she won't let you. Get involved at your child's school. Apologize immediately when  you lose your temper, especially to children. Be your children's best teacher and coach. Don't let weeds grow around your dreams. "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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Author Unknown "You Know You're A Mom When..." 1. You count the sprinkles on each kid's cupcake to make sure they're equal. 2. You want to take out a contract on the kid who broke your child's favorite toy and made him/her cry. 3. You have time to shave only one leg at a time. 4. You hide in the bathroom to be alone. 5. You child throws up, and you catch it. 6. Someone else's kid throws up at a party, and you keep eating. 7. You consider finger paint to be a controlled substance. 8. You mastered the art of placing large quanitities of pancakes and eggs on a plate without anything touching. 9. Your child insists that you read Once Upon a Potty out loud in the lobby of the doctor's office, or, better yet, in the lobby of a Grand Central Station... and you do it. 10. You hire a sitter because you haven't been out with your husband in ages, then spend half the night talking about and checking on the kids. 11. You hope ketchup is a vegetable because it's the only one your child eats. 12. You cling to the high moral ground on toy weapons, while your child chews his toast into the shape of a gun. 13. You can't bear the thought of your son's first girlfriend. 14. You hate the thought of his wife even more. 15. You donate to charities in the hope that your child won't get that disease. 16. You find yourself cutting your husband's sandwiches into unusual shapes. 17. You fast-forward through the scene when the hunter shoots Bambi's mother. 18. You use your own saliva to clean your child's face. 19. You obsess when your child clings to you upon parting during his first month at school, then obsess when he skips in without looking back the second time. 20. You can't bear to give away baby clothes--it's so final. 21. You hear your mother's voice coming out of your mouth when you say, "Not in your good clothes!" 22. You stop criticizing the way your mother raised you. 23. You read that the average five-year-old asks 437 questions a day and feel proud that your kid is above average. 24. You say at least once a day, I'm not cut out for this job, but you know you wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
Also, check out my poem Mom and Football

 

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