"Truth is the property of no individual but is the treasure of all men."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Yesterday, my daughter's teacher shared two of her recent poems with me. Both are short and sweet; one a Haiku, the other an acrostic. Grace who's 8, is the younger of my two girls and is...how do I put this...also the trickiest. In a nutshell, she keeps me on my toes pretty much all the time. So, both of these poems speak volumes to both who she is and how she views me as her mom. The first that came through was the Haiku.
This one surprised me a bit and also made me laugh. A lot. According to Grace, not only am I bossy, but I make the rules
AND I'm always bossing. When I picked her up from gymnastics last night I asked her about it.
Grace, I said,
Ashley sent me your poems today. She smirked.
Do you really think I'm that bossy? I feel a little sad that you just see me as the one who makes the rules and then tells you what do do. Her response?
Well, at least I put the 'nice' part in there. We both laughed. When it comes down to it, she's kind of right. I do make the rules and I do enforce them. And lately, I've been having repeat myself several times to get through to her (ie. Grace, did you brush your teeth? Grace, you still haven't brushed your teeth. Grace, you need to get out of bed and brush your teeth. GRACE!!!) So, yeah, I guess that comes off as bossy.
Grace, did you do your homework?
But, again, at least she threw the 'nice' in there, too. The second one was the acrostic poem.
TRANSLATION:
REBECCA
Runner
Early runner
Bare back
Energy
Cuddling
Cute
Awesome
This one also had me laughing. I got most of it - a cute, energetic runner who likes to cuddle and is, in her opinion, awesome. I'll take it. I did, however, have to get some clarification from her on the other two. Turns out, early runner is just that. I tend to go right after I drop her off from school, which she considers early. But bare back?!? She let me know it's because I'm often running in a tank top or sports bra so my back is bear. Also, true. A little odd that she put that in there over something like, I don't know, Bossy. Ha ha. Seriously, though, I love this. She is saying so much with so little in this one. I run a lot. She sees that. She even went so far as to comment on when I go and what I wear (or don't wear). Makes total sense. But, she also noted my energy. I'm always worried that I don't save enough for my kids because I use so much of it for my training and coaching. If she put it in there, it must mean I'm not always totally depleted when I'm with her. That's a relief. I'm also happy to know that she associates me with cuddling, which I try to do as much as possible with her. My older daughter is not so into it, so Grace gets the extra dose. I knew she liked it, but it's clearly on the forefront of her mind when she thinks of me. That's cool. And finally, cute and awesome. I don't know about cute, but I'll take awesome any day.
Listen to this:
Hi Rebecca-I subscribe to your blog but have not commented yet, but I could NOT resist commenting on this one. I honestly have this exact same conversation with my daughter (she's 9) EVERY NIGHT. It's not just teeth brushing...its also going to the bathroom and washing her hands. She once told me she does not like to go potty because it is "boring". She says "you're mean" to me on a routine basis, because I am bossy the same way you are! LOL! Hope we can get a chance to meet in WA in August!
ReplyDeleteWell, going to the bathroom is pretty boring, right? Thanks for sharing. I know we all deal w/ this stuff, but it's still nice to hear. August for sure. Can't wait!
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