While going through some old papers, we happened upon a piece we first read in the late 1980’s. It doesn’t seem that old to us, but then again, the only thing that seems old is the mirror!
Our children, parents of our great/grandchildren, have so much stress in their lives, especially as it relates to learning, performing, and just surviving. It’s a daunting task to raise children in this test-crazy, pressure to over-achieve world, we live in. What’s a family to do? What’s a great/grandparent to do?
We know from our parents, that whatever advice they gave us didn’t mean much until we got MUCH older. So these actions are passed down, generation to generation. BUT, what if we could show OUR children, who are “sound-byte”, technology driven, “above the fold only readers”, a few bullet points that might be useful to them. These tried and true ideas are especially poignant when they are feeling the stress of parenting. It doesn’t take long to read, and they can be posted on the refrigerator or their iPhones. It’s not an “app”…just good advice (and it WON’T be denied on SNOPES).
So, here again, in all its glory, is some really solid, good advice (and it’s aged beautifully)!!!
EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN – by Robert Fulghum**
“Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do and how to be I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school. These are the things I learned:
• Share everything
• Play fair
• Don't hit people
• Put things back where you found them
• Clean up your own mess
• Don't take things that aren't yours
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody
• Wash your hands before you eat
• Flush
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you
• Live a balanced life
• Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work everyday some
• Take a nap every afternoon
• When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together
• Be aware of wonder - Remember the little seed in the plastic cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup - they all die. So do we
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first important word you learned-the biggest word of all-LOOK
Everything you need to know is there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and sane living. Take any of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if all-the whole world-had cookies and milk about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where they found them and to cleaned up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are-when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.”
** "ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN" by Robert Fulghum. http://www.robertfulghum.com/ © Robert Fulghum, 1990, Villard Books, NY
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