All I ever needed to know...

First of all, if you haven't read the piece below...take time to read it, really read it!

"All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten.

ALL 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 sandpile at Sunday 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 playand work every day 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 styrofoam 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 Styrofoam cup - they all die.So do we.

And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.

The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.

Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any of those items and extrapolate it intosophisticated 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 three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down withour blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.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."

This poem has been going through my head all morning as I registered Landri for Kindergarten. Though there are some simple little truths, and some a little silly, there are plenty here I want for her. I want her to share, to play fair, to clean up her own mess and to always do unto others as she would have them do unto her.

I want her to live a balanced life and enjoy those around her, and learn to treasure the precious moments she has with those who are dear, knowing time flies quickly and they won't be by her side forever.

I want her to LOOK and see the world through the eyes of Jesus...to see people as He sees them and to love them with an unconditional love. I want her to walk boldy and upright and to always seek His approval above that of man's. I want her to live a life worthy of imitation that will point those around her to her Father above.

I want her to know that her mommy and daddy love her a WHOLE lot and I want her big brother to always walk beside her and protect her.

I want her to make lots of friends and surround herself with a few precious ones that will hold her accountable as she grows and when she has to face the world, they are there beside her...

to hold her hand.