Pick up your shoes!
Comb your hair!
For goodness sake
Put on some underwear!
Life for a Mum
Is as hard as it comes,
Issuing orders
And wiping bums.
Put on a coat!
Don’t hit the cat!
For goodness sake,
Don’t eat that!
Life for a Mum
Is as hard as it comes,
Issuing orders
And hoovering crumbs.
Put down that knife,
Mind your head,
For goodness sake
Did you hear what I said?
Life for a Mum
Is as hard as it comes,
Issuing orders
And patching sore thumbs.
Come have a cuddle,
It’ll be alright,
I promise you darling…
Please sleep tight.
Life for a Mum
Is as hard as it comes,
But we wouldn’t change it,
We love being Mums.
Pooky's Poems 
Yes, love being a Mum:)
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Best job in the world (and the hardest!)
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This is very sweet and describes motherhood perfectly!) xx
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🙂 I’m glad you like it!
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A childhood friend of mine recently died at 27 leaving behind two beautiful young children. Since then I’ve found that I just want to constantly hug mine and that the little things that used to bother me and make me use my ‘mother voice’ simply don’t right now!
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Yes things like this “bring it home”.Im so sorry for her family and for you losing your friend. Far too young, very sad xx
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It is very very sad – it has made us all hold each other that little bit tighter though.
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Beautiful sentiments! I loved how it all came together with the last two lines 🙂
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Thank you – I’m happy that you liked it. I don’t half seem to write some random rubbish don’t I!
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You’re welcome! ahhh, not so fast Mrs!.. You’re not ‘random’ at all – Please let me share some of that ‘accolade’ of being random! It is after all my title!! 😉
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ha ha! You can take the random and I’ll take the rubbish 😉
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LOL!! We should start a collaborative blog then, entitled “Random-Rubbish” 😉
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🙂
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Aw, that is so sweet. I love this. It may not be easy, but the best things in life rarely are. Beautiful poem. 🙂
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Thanks Cubby – being a Mum is the most exciting, and most complicated, journey I’ve ever undertaken!
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Very sweet, Pooky, and your imagery is perfect! I can relate and love it! 🙂
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I’m glad you liked it 🙂 Thanks for stopping by. I still can’t stop thinking about that cake!
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Pooky, I’ve just been reading an article about children in dentention centres. Sometimes I’m ashamed of my country. To come to your beautiful, loving poem was like applying a soothing salve to an open wound.
I’m so sorry to read of the death of your friend. Life is often hard to fathom. My heart goes out to the family and friends.
I tell my nieces constantly to save their growling for the important stuff. Your poem is a wonderful example of loving discipline.
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Thanks Tricia – you always leave such heartfelt and insightful comments that bring me great pleasure to read.
I like the idea of a poem as a healing balm – though I’m sorry you’d read such horrible stuff. I find the idea of such places distressing but largely because I feel that we have almost always really let those children down somewhere along the way. I used to be chair of governors in a primary school in a very deprived area and was acutely aware of the huge impact the schooling could have on the children’s lives. The school was failing when I joined and the thought of the negative impact that may have on these sweet four and five year olds distressed me greatly (sadly many were far less sweet already by the time they reached six or seven. The first day I arrived at the school I had to mind a child who spoke no English but ‘might bite’ whilst the head went and dealt with a child who was literally climbing the walls…)
Thank you for your condolences. Some things I think we can never get over but we can always take pleasure from memories.
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Oh, I like! Succinct and so clever.
(a query to the last line of the 4th stanza – is that hovering or hoovering? I just remember the required frequent hoovering of crumbs from growing up, although it was just a dustpan back then.)
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Erm…. yup, that would be hoovering! Thank you 🙂
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I love this poem. I just can imagine having a loving mom and her dedicating this to me or vice-versa. Thanks for writing and sharing! 🙂
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🙂 Thanks for the kind words, I’m glad you like it. xxx
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I’m just re-reading this comment and I clearly had my happy specs on yesterday as I read it really positively. Now re-reading the words “I just can imagine having a loving mom” made me feel deeply sad and want to chuck you a big, big hug xxx
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Thanks and don’t worry about. 🙂 I guess mine did the best she could, although she could’ve tried harder. This is a lovely poem! Thanks for the reply and for the concern! *hugs back* xxxx
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She either did the best she could, or she could have tried harder… I’m guessing it’s the latter. I guess that’s one of the reasons why you work so hard to be a good parent?
It took me until I was in my 20s to realise that mine loved me (she’s bipolar and I think it’s hard to believe that someone would repeatedly try to kill themselves if they loved you???) but we got there in the end and we get on brilliantly now.
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Yeah. I know she loves me though. My father never showed that much emotion other than that of disprove and discontentment. It’s one of the reasons I try so hard to be a good parent.
I’m sorry about your mom. I’m glad ur relationship with her is better now.
I hope my kids understand the things I’ve done in order to protect them and still be in their lives. Having to leave with a irresponsible parent like their mom really tears my heart. But none of the agencies would do anything to help my children. Anyways, that’s another story.
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That certainly is a whole other story – they will know and they will understand as long as you’re always in touch with them and you don’t dodge the truth of the situation. That’s certainly the way I intend to tackle things with our two (who are actually second cousins. It’s a wee bit complicated!)
You’re clearly a loving Dad and you’re a phenomenal communicator so hopefully that will bridge the gap…
How old are you children? (You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to)
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My children are 7 and 5. My oldest birthday is in two weeks. He asked me if I was gonna be there. I sadly replied with a no. I haven’t talked to them in over a week. Their mom doesn’t pick up the phone. They’re really cute, nice and clever. My youngest doesn’t know what’s going on but my oldest surely misses me.
My life is not the same without them.
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That’s so sad – it must tear you apart not being with them. It sounds like the situation is completely beyond your control and you’re doing the very best you can to be a good Dad.
Are you able to send him a birthday present? I hope you get to speak to him on his birthday xxx
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Yeah, it does. But yeah, it is beyond my control. I want to send them something “personal” that I know he’ll like. He loves how I surprise him with things he loves but nobody knows about, except him and I. hope I can send it all in time. Thanks again for the comment and the support. Xxx.
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Ooooh what are you planning? You clearly have a really special bond. No distance can break that… hmm… I even wrote a poem about that recently: https://pookypoetry.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/far-flung-friends/
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I’m really good with technology and he used to have this customized video game system and he used to play a lot of games in it, but them his mother broke it down. Now, what I’m gonna do is buy the pieces again and customized his video game system once more but better. 🙂 My kids love when I take things that are one way and make them do a lot of other things.
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that sounds brilliant – customised stuff is the best too because it means you have something cooler than all of your friends…
And it’s more personal too. How fantastic. I hope he loves it (and that his mother keeps her mitts off it)
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This is a Mother’s Day post if ever there was one! 🙂
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ha ha! Yes I think you may be right. I’ll have to remember it for my Mummy friends on mother’s day (that is my favourite day of the year!)
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Wouldn’t be so bad
If we convinced a dad
To hang with his tots
And love em lots.
Always so busy,
No time for Bill & Lizzy;
So we pray
There’ll come a day
That his heart will awaken
Before they get taken.
There’s a point to reading
If we use it for feeding
Their sweet little hearts
By just playing our parts.
This one’s for you, Pooky.
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Thank you!
That’s the first time I’ve had a fully blown poem as a response. Sad but beautiful… Hopeful.
I’m blessed to have a husband who takes a very active role. I call him supermum. He’s by far the better parent of the two of us but I appreciate that’s exceptional…
X
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Thanks, Pooky. Some of the best things are bittersweet. Like chastisement because we love them and want them to grow. Or saying good-bye for the last time, as we think on all the things we love about someone. (Why do we save dessert for last?) Haven’t written a poem in decades. Thanks for the inspiration.
Yes, it’s very hopeful. Up until now educators and parents have believed there is no hope for things ever really getting better in our schools. So teachers do damage control and parents (who care) try to rescue their own kids from the sinking ship.
Some of your poems speak of possibility and rebirth. Truth is we don’t know what we don’t know–until we know it. The good news is, by dumb luck, I fell upon a way that any parent can read with a child such that he or she keeps and builds that love of reading which turns into a lifelong love of learning. When people wake up to the realization that what we’ve been doing up til now actually ruins the love of reading, this will take hold like gang busters.
Pooky, please keep watching. This is going to transform education in a matter of a few years or less. When you become convinced, you’ll know what to do. Let’s keep inspiring each other. Congrats on that fine man of yours.
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It sounds fantastic. My mum taught me to read when I was three and I was a confirmed bookworm by age four. I asked her how she did it (looking for tips as my girls are three and love books) and she said it just happened. We were poor and lived remotely with no car. On rainy days, we got lost in books together for hours. She said I just started reading without her knowing when or how. I do remember the exciting stories we read (Seo The Borrowers and Narnia)
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I have spent years studying people like you who are lifelong readers. Without fail they were read to a bunch, but there’s more. Their parents loved to read and infected their kids with the virus. Sadly, many of the teachers in our schools are not carriers of the bug because they never got infected when they were little. What happens is our kids go to school without the ability to read and get humiliated by the mockery they face. Combine that with years of boring readers, torturous textbooks, and tedious workbooks and it’s no wonder most kids give up in second grade. Besides, they never see their parents read, so why should they bother. We tell them they need it for tests, for graduation and for getting a job. Once they graduate and get a job, most people never read another book.
You wonder how it happened that you became of lover of books. The answer is in what you just wrote me: On rainy days, we got lost in books together for hours. I encourage parents to spend just 30 minutes, three to four times a week with their children when they are around six (give or take) when they are still crazy about books, but before the rest of the world can steal it away from them. The parents who do Point to Reading with their kids see them rocket to an eighth grade reading level (give or take) in less than a year. The secret is two-fold: building a relationship between the parent and child, and having fun discussing what the story means.
The book (PTR) has some details about what not to do and so forth, but the power is in the fact that, in less than five minutes, I can show any parent how to do this. Once I get this message out, I believe it will take less than three years to change the reading habits and ability of our kids. I look forward to the day when the majority of children enter school loving to read and highly capable (like you were). Then the kids will be willing and able to learn, and the teachers will be able to teach. There will still be some children with learning challenges who will need special attention, but then the teachers will be able to apply their resources to those few, instead of having to do battle with a whole classroom full of delinquents as it is today.
I will keep you up to date with the progress. I have a private school in my town, plus I’m meeting this week with the principal and president of the PTA to discuss a plan work with the parents in their schools. This is starting to get exciting. One thing I would recommend with your three year old girls. Read the little kid books with them, but also when you are reading something for you—read it out loud when they are sitting there in the room with you. They can be playing on the floor with whatever, but they will be listening as you read. When you come upon something interesting in your story that you think they might like to hear about, explain to them what it means. Hearing the grand vocabulary in your books stretches their brains. You discussing your book with them brings them into your life, getting them used to the idea that books have interesting things to talk about. In a couple years they will be ready to for you to read with them the PTR way.
Much joy for you and your family, Henry
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I guess I thought my mum would be able to give me some clue like ‘we sounded the words out’ or something but we didn’t . We just read together lots. First her to me, then as I started to read we’d read together then eventually me to her. I think choosing really good books is important. I remember when I was at infant school the books were dull as dishwater but it was organised for me to visit the juinior school once a week to raid their library (it was heaven!)
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Should you read my book, I bet you will nod your head and say, yep, that’s what my mum did with me. What oddly funny is that what I suggest is counter to much of what is done in schools everywhere, and yet when I explain the reasoning, people (even educators are people) agree with what I’m saying.
For instance, during the PTR reading time, there is no “sounding out” allowed. That gets the teachers all worked up because that is foundational to how they teach. But, when I ask them “What happens at the end of the sentence when a child is sounding out the words?”, they realize how the kids have no idea what anything means. I contend that “sounding out” is one of the main causes of poor comprehension skills. We are actually training students “not to comprehends”. They do their reading performance; then we tell them “Well done”; and they think “I know how to read”. The fact that they have no idea what they read is overlooked. This cuts the rut that stays with them the rest of their lives.
If you are interested, Pookie, go to my website http://www.pointtoreading.com and you will find three chapter links on the Home page. Read the third one (chapter 15: the benefits) and you will get a sense of how amazing this can be. When I said I studied people like you, it was like studying the basketball player, Michael Jordan, to learn how best to play basketball. Educators are so focused on what hasn’t worked on the last sixty years, it never occurred to them to examine people who are lifelong lovers of reading to find out what made it work for them. When I talk to folks who love reading, they have no trouble with PTR because much of it was done to them, which is why they love to read. Finally we know how we can share what worked for you with others parents, and bring lots of children (adults) to the love of reading. I add adults as people who benefit because when a parent who doesn’t like to read (which is most of them) will read the PTR way with their children, many of them will also build a love of reading they haven’t had previously. Very exciting. It’s a two for one sale. Ha!
Have a lovely day, I’m going out to feed chickens and goats. (We live in the country.)
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It sounds simply wonderful – I will add it to my list. Sounds like you and my mum would get on famously. Apparently she also taught adults to read who had never ever been able to.. I only learnt that recently but it chimes well with your work.
I love that you have chickens and goats. We used to keep bees but they didn’t mix too well with toddlers!
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Good luck – I love to hear such passion. I work in education and sadly, passion is often lacking.
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Just looked at your site – what great work you’re doing.
Bearing your passion in mind, I thought you’d like the sentiment of this: The Joy of Reading | Pooky’s Poems
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Sent it to my FB page so others may enjoy it. I like how you challenge yourself to write a poem a day. What a legacy to leave your babes.
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Oh wow – thank you. Delighted that you liked it enough to share.
A poem a day is fun so far. Only a month in but growing to enjoy it more and more.
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I spent over a dozen years writing Point to Reading. Much of the time was due to procrastination, despair, and lack of belief I could do it. Reading the new articles about the tragedy of declining education and the destruction of our culture was much of what motivated me. What drives me, now that it is done, is the knowledge that every year (in the States) there are four million children who enter first grade. By third grade, three million will have given up on reading and learning due to the humiliation they face in the initial years. All because they weren’t prepared to succeed. I have become rather monomaniacal, but that is a lot of kids on my conscience, knowing I can do something about it. By the way, somebody already shared your poem off my post on FB. Amazing how a good thing can spread. Keep up the good work.
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A dozen years – wow – that really is a labour of love… I look forward to hearing what a magnificent impact it has. It seems you are well on the way 🙂
Oh and thanks for sharing my poem too!
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