Good manners matter.
All the kids at school who are in the cool group will only be the cool kids for now. Long term, the nerds are a much better bet.
Don’t tailgate.
Talent is good, but discipline and drive are better.
If you aren’t true to your self you can’t expect anyone else to be true to you.
Nothing you can do will change how I feel about you.
Even though I’m your mother I am also a human and I get angry and sad just like you do.
I know you’re convinced otherwise, but I know more than you do.
I don’t care who you love as long as they are good to you.
Asking for help is a sign of strength—not weakness.
If you smile it’s actually very hard to feel grumpy.
Your body is sacred.
Never re-freeze thawed food-items.
Always ask a girl before you kiss her.
Cooking, letter-writing and toilet-plunging are all essential skills.
The cliché: ‘everything in moderation’ does not apply to drugs or cigarettes.
If you put positive energy into the universe it will come back to you. I promise.
Thanks Amy,
I needed some of these too.
Awwww. You’re gonna have some great men someday.
Such good food for thought on this rainy day. Thanks!
When Ari was little, his Dad gave him this advice: “Don’t kill anyone. Don’t get addicted to heroin. Don’t get anybody pregnant unless you mean to. Anything else we can fix.”
All the same, a few of your notes would have been helpful, too.
so good! thanks for the reminders!
This is beautiful advice. I wish somebody had been that confident about us when we were growing up.
Those are beautiful photos, too. I love the one with your two boy resting.
Hmm, very wise indeed to offer some essential thoughts to the future gentlemen of the world!
This is so sweet. And so true. I must remember to do something like this on my own blog one day soon. Inspiration’s not always there when we want it, so striking while the iron is hot is a good thing! Love all your pics, too.
Seriously? AMAZING! Thank you.
Thank you so much for these. I’m going to print them out for each of my kids and stick them to the fridge too. In particular I like ‘asking for help is a sign of strength’ – as my kids never say boo at school and I know they don’t ask because they are scared the other kids will think they’re dumb. I’m going to highlight that one in something very luminous.
You don’t blog all that often – but it’s always worth waiting for!
seriously, woman. you are too good. if i slip these under b.’s door, do you think he’ll know they came from me?
Thanks Neighbor…..we’ve been missing you. Always worth the wait though. What super advice for everyone. I just ran into the cool guy from high school that everyone wanted to date(me included), and my, oh my, the cool kids in HS are ONLY cool in HS. The nerds get so cute and cool when they leave HS. Karma is so great!
Hope the sun is shining on you and yours!
Amy, this is another in a long line of really great posts, and another reason why I don’t miss a single one. Solid advice.
Must say that I prefer not to be asked but I’m way too old for your boys anyway.
Thank you. That was beautiful. And inspiring. I hear you on each and everyone, well maybe not the asking before the kissing, but everything else. Thanks for sharing, talented one.
so very good, amy. thank you!
I’m beginning to wonder – do we need more than this to create good and loving offsprings? No. I feel you’ve wrapped it up pretty nicely. Thanks.
I am totally inspired to do this. Definitely now on the mental ‘to blog’ list.
What a wonderful list. Thank you!
i love this, but if i could suggest one slight change, it would be to ask anyone (male or female) for permission before you kiss them. and i think this advice is great for girls too…
How wonderful. I love this post!
You hit the nail on the head Amy. loved it.
You are so wonderfully wise. I hope your sweet boys read this many times over in their life–each word is filled with such love for them. (of course, I’m tucking your words in the back of my head for mama-hood).
A truly brilliant list!!
These are wonderful lessons. I always think of my son as a man-in-training and these are perfect. Thanks for sharing!
Ditto. Love. I will pass this wisdom onto my two boys too… it’s so beautifully put!
Wise words. This should go on the fridge.
I love the picture of your boys. So sweet!
I tell my kids some of the same things–except not to re-freeze, because *gasp* sometimes I do it!
One of the biggest life changers is when kids actually believe that “Nothing you can do will change how I feel about you.” Not too long ago I said that to my oldest son on one of our particularly hard days. I watched the words sink into his heart and mind–it changed him. Not that I had never said it before, but at that moment he was able to grasp the magnitude of it. We still have hard days but more than ever he knows his momma loves him.
You (and your boys) are awesome.
Very wise. I could have used some of these when I was younger!
But “Everything in Moderation” does indeed apply to drugs. I think it applies especially to drugs.
hear hear.
I like this one: ‘Saltwater is the cure for everything: sweat, tears or the sea.’
Excellent, Amy…love these words. I’ll be printing this out for me and my little ones. (Lately I’ve been telling Charlie “Love is the answer,” when he’s in a sour mood and irritated with his little sister – it’ll be good to have some more wisdom in my back pocket. (!)
Beautiful blog. Lovely thoughts.
I like it here: your pictures, words, & all the clean, white space. A delight!
Beautiful,
this is beautiful,
‘everything in moderation except for drugs or cigarettes’ – very true, it has been all or nothing for me. Glad for the extremes, but wish I knew moderation was impossible.
And thank you – I’ll alway ask,
Also, glad to learn about the re-freezing thing, I didn’t know.
Some day they’ll know you knew more than they did. I know you know more than I do. Thanks for the thoughts.
Oh yes, what a great post. Makes me think about what I would write to my kids…hmmmm
Yep…think I need the discipline reminder. Diligence is being revisited in my life (and in my “to be drafted” blog posts too). Perhaps, just perhaps, I’ll learn this one yet.
I’m sending this to every pregnant friend I have.
^_^
Once again, I love it. I can only wish I could have found the words myself – sent the link to my girls and boy (via FB).
I wish I had written this. I will share it with my boys anyway.
“Talent is good, but discipline and drive are better.” – M and I have discussed this so many times and hope that it is something we can instill in our still-tiny daughter! Unfortunately, nobody ever took the time to tell either of us that when we were small but we were lucky (?) enough to coast on our natural talents for most of our lives. But think of how much further we could have gone, had we only had a little discipline! Alas. At least we’ve realized it, hard as it is to compensate for at this stage in the game…
I love your blog. I just love it.
I can’t decide which juxtaposition I love more, the body as temple/double-frozen hamburger, or the letter-writing/plunging. Heck, let’s call it a tie. (Truly, I love ‘em all.)
I love these words of wisdom to your boys!