A Blessing for the New Born:

"We give thanks for the safe arrival of this beautiful child into our world. 

Today we offer ourselves as caretakers of his/her spirit and higher mind. 

May we fulfil with strength the glory of our role in his/her life and the lives of his/her parents. 

May the spirit of this family, from generations past and into the future, burst forth to bless and protect this child".

   - Attributed to Marianne Williamson


A Wise Parent Teaches:

skills, courage and concentration on the job in hand,
encourages enthusiasm and a spirit of enquiry
fosters gentleness, kindliness, patience, courtesy,
and the greatest of all, Love.


A Child Learns What He Lives

If a child lives with criticsim,
he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility,
he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule,
he learns to be shy.
lf a child lives with shame,
he learns to feel guilt.
lf a child lives with tolerance,
he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement,
he learns confidence.
If a child lives with fairness,
he learns justice.
If a child lives with security,
he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval,
he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
he learns lo find love. in the world.
   - Dorothy Law Nolte


The Child

Is made of one hundred.

The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands,
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking,
of playing, of speaking.
A hundred, always a hundred
ways of listening,
of marvelling, of loving,
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding.
A hundred worlds
to discover,
a hundred worlds
to invent,
a hundred worlds to dream.

The child knows
that work and play,
reality and fantasy,
science and imagination,
sky and earth,
Venus and Mars,
reason and dream
are things
that belong together.

And there is a child in every adult.
For at least a hundred years.
   - Loris Malaguzzi


From the Prophet

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom
said, Speak to us of Children.
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you.
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you-
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which
You cannot visit, not even in your dreams,
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.