Polly Berrien Berends
Polly Berrien Berends
children discovery gains
The gain is not the having of children; it is the discovery of love and how to be loving.
children needs halt
Whenever the child is given the notion that he needs to be entertained, learning comes almost to a halt.
children kids opportunity
Never miss an opportunity to allow a child to do something she can and wants to on her own. Sometimes we're in too much of a rush--and she might spill something, or do it wrong. But whenever possible she needs to learn, error by error, lesson by lesson, to do better. And the more she is able to learn by herself the more she gets the message that she's a kid who can.
children real reading
Awareness of having better things to do with their lives is the secret to immunizing our children against false values--whether presented on television or in "real life." The child who finds fulfillment in music or reading or cooking or swimming or writing or drawing is not as easily convinced that he needs recognition or power or some "high" to feel worthwhile.
song children years
If we allow our one-and-a-half year old to "help" us fold laundry he will learn something about buttons, zippers, snaps, where things go, the physical properties of cloth, what happens when you drop it, how easy or hard it is to carry compared with everything else he has ever carried, what clean clothes smell like, how a big towel can turn into a small bundle, how the small bundle you just folded can turn into a big towel again, plus any songs we care to sing or stories or related or unrelated facts we care to pass on.
american-celebrity
We can see that the baby is as much an instrument of nourishment for us as we are for him.
years parent lists
My list of things I never pictured myself saying when I pictured myself as a parent has grown over the years.
blessing lessons happens
Everything that happens is either a blessing, which is also a lesson, or a lesson which is also a blessing.