A Letter to My Progeny

So I saw something on Pinterest (I know, I know…).  It was a template for writing a letter to your future child about what you want for them, and I thought it was kind of cool.  I mean, I don’t have kids, I’m not pregnant, and I don’t expect to be pregnant for a while yet, but I’m one of those people who really likes to plan ahead.  Plus, if I sit down and determine how I want my children to grow up, I’ll be able to better plan for how to raise them.  That’s a teaching technique, by the way; backwards planning.  You take your end goals and then build a lesson plan off of them.  Anyways, here’s my letter to my future child(ren):

Dear kid,

 You’re ridiculously attractive, you know that?  I mean, you had no choice but to be attractive with your genes.  There’s more to life than being attractive though, so below is a list of the hopes that I have for you as you grow up.

I hope you love nature.  I want to look for bugs under rocks with you, climb trees to investigate birds’ nests with you, swim in lakes and rivers with you, hike mountains with you, and teach you to respect life. 

I hope you’re a reader, and that you love learning.  I hope you question, and probe, and research, and experiment, and struggle to understand the world around you and the people that live on it.

I hope you aren’t afraid to be yourself.  I want you to change and to grow and to become responsible and independent and joyful, but I don’t want you to think that you need to change your personality to meet others’ expectations of you.

I hope you think your dad and I are funny, and I hope you cultivate your very own sense of humor.  I also hope you use that humor wisely.  Make people laugh, but never at the expense of someone else.

I hope you learn to pick yourself up when you fall, and I hope you recognize that falling is not failure; just a chance to try again.

For my boys: I hope you respect women.  I hope you open doors for them, give up your seat for them, never raise your voice with them, and remember that all women are someone’s daughter or mother.

For my girls: I hope you respect men.  I hope you allow them to show their love for you instead of being fiercely independent, never raise your voice with them, and recognize that you can break their hearts just as easily as they break yours.

I hope you realize that people have different opinions than you do, and I hope you treat those people with respect.  Learn to defend your arguments well, but don’t expect that to change their minds.

I hope you’re aware, but optimistic.  I don’t want you to be naïve about the world around you, but I want you to see the good in the world.  Be cautious, but don’t assume that everyone is out to get you.  The majority of people are good (even the ones that seem so different from you).

I hope you look for chances to serve others.  Whether it’s comforting a mourning friend, helping someone jump-start their car, or smiling at the people you walk by on the street, try and brighten at least one person’s day every day.

I hope you get the opportunity to follow your dreams.  Maybe you want to be like your crazy aunt that ran off to France for a summer to serve old people.  Go do it.  Maybe you want to learn how to restore old cars.  Go do it.  Maybe you want to become a zookeeper.  Go do it.  Your dad and I will try our best to make your dreams possible, as long as you’re putting effort in too.

I hope you understand that God loves you.  On top of that, I hope you understand that God loves everyone JUST AS MUCH as He loves you, and you have no right to belittle someone or make them feel like less than a child of God.  I hope you try and live like Christ: serving others and loving them as they are, while at the same time uplifting them and encouraging them to be even better people.

I hope you never forget that your dad and I love you.  Right now you’re just a single cell chillin’ in one of my ovaries, and I ALREADY love you.  We’re probably going to fight at some time in our lives.  You’ll tell me you hate me and I’ll say you made me fat, but as soon as that flare of passion is over I’m going to run and find you wherever you ran off to (if you’re like me it will be a few miles down the road) and apologize, because you mean more to me than anything.  Please please please don’t forget that.

I have so many more hopes for you, kid.  I just know you’re going to be awesome (you’re probably pretty awesome as I write these words; you’re half me!), and I’m super excited to see you all grown up.

I love you and always will,

Mum