Paul Harvey Writes:

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids
That we made them worse.
For my grandchildren, I’d like better.

I’d really like for them to know about hand me down clothes

and homemade ice
cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really
would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and
that you learn honesty by
being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the
lawn and wash the car.

And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car
when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see
puppies born and your old
dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something
you believe in

I hope you have to share a bedroom
with your younger brother/sister.
And it’s all right if you have to draw
a line down the middle of the room,
but when he wants to crawl under
the covers with you because he’s
scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little
brother/sister wants to tag
along, I hope you’ll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your
friends and that you live
in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope
you don’t ask your
driver to drop you two blocks away so you won’t be
seen riding with someone
as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you
how to make one instead
of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also
learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have
your first crush on a
boy\girl, and when you talk back to your mother that
you learn what ivory
soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn
your hand on a stove and
stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don’t care if you try a beer once, but I hope you
don’t like it. And if a
friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you
realize he is not your friend

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with
your Grandma/Grandpa and go
fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the
holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a
baseball through your
neighbor’s window and that she hugs you and kisses
you at Hannukah/Christmas
time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and
disappointment, hard work and
happiness. To me, it’s the only way to appreciate
life.