Teach your children well. Let them know when to protest, when to pray. If sink or swim are the options, tell them to swim. Always.
Teach your children well. Make mistakes, but own them. Make cookies. Lots of them. Make rules, and bend them carefully and only if necessary.
Teach your children well. Trust them. Earn their trust.
Teach your children everything you love. Dance in the sprinkler on a hot August day. Make hot cocoa from Nestle’s Quick. And always, always, have eggs on hand. Scrambled eggs cure almost everything.
Teach your children well. Watch carefully how they learn from you. Despite themselves. They are mirrors. Check yourself.
Teach your children well. When the world gets scary, talk. When the scary world get scarier, talk more. Teach your children perspective.
Teach your children well. Ask for stories. Listen to stories. Tell them stories.
Teach your children well. Love them big, so they can love big. Big hearts have room for more hurt. It’s okay. Love big anyway.
Teach your children well. Give. Give often. Give back. Give with a smile. Give of yourself. Give until you’re exhausted.
Teach your children well. Treat your children well. Teach your children to “treat yourself.”
Teach your children well. Listen to them. They often teach you what they need. They often don’t know. Nor will you. All the time. So listen. Even if it is to their breathing. Or whispers. Or silence.
Teach your children well.
Photos via Riana Johnson et al, see more at https://www.etsy.com/shop/OchreAndBone
pocket poet 
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