posted February 26, 2008 07:30 PM
NEWBORN'S TEN COMMANDMENTS TO PARENTSI come to you a small, immature being with my own style and personality. I am yours for only a short time: Enjoy me.
1. Please take the time to find out who I am, how I differ from you and how much I can bring to you.
2. Please feed me when I am hungry. I never knew hunger in the uterus, and clocks and time mean little to me.
3. Please hold, cuddle, kiss, touch, stroke, and croon to me. I was always held closely in the uterus and was never alone before.
4. Please don't be disappointed when I am not the perfect baby that you expected; nor disappointed with yourselves that you are not the perfect parents.
5. Please don't expect too much from me as your new baby; or too much from yourselves as new parents. Give us both six weeks as a birthday present - six weeks for me to grow, develop, mature and become more stable and predictable; and six weeks for mom to rest, relax and allow your body to go back to normal.
6. Please forgive me if I cry a lot. Bear with me and a short time, as I mature, I will spend less time crying and more time socializing.
7. Please watch me carefully and I can tell you the things that soothe, console, and please me. I am not a tyrant who was sent to make your life miserable, but the only way I can tell you that I am not happy is by crying.
8. Please remember that I am resilient and can withstand the many natural mistakes you will make with me, as long as you make them with love, you cannot ruin me.
9. Please take care of yourself and eat a balanced diet, rest and exercise so that when we are together, you have the health and strength to take care of me.
10. Please take care of your relationship with each other, for what good is family bonding if there is no family to bond with?
Although I may have turned your life upside down, please realize that things will go back to normal before long.
Thank-you,
Your loving child.
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The truth is ... everything counts. Everything. Everything we do and everything we say. Everything helps or hurts; everything adds to or takes away from someone else. ~ Countee Cullen
We are weaving character every day, and the way to weave the best character is to be kind and to be useful. Think right, act right; it is what we think and do that makes us who we are. ~ Elbert Hubbard