The 1st of May: Crafting a Child...

Something caught my eye last week. Up on Betsy's shelf are Child-craft books that I kept from my Me-Me's house. I had forgotten about them...for some reason I thought they were more of an encyclopedia type book that the kids would like as they got older.

They are not kids books. They are PARENTING resources...and they are GOOD.

I love how I am learning about "family" through books that my Me-Me read when my dad was little and I love how when I turn each page I smell her house.

Currently I'm hooked on Volume 14: Your Child Goes To School and Volume 12: You and Your Family. The copyright is 1954. What amazes me is how SIMILAR advice in these books is to "common sense" advice given today. The books really walk through understanding your child...and teaching your child.

I've been highlighting as I go and I can't wait to continue to share some of the fabulous things I find!

"It is satisfying to see a youngster take his place in the family, especially if there are other children. You wonder how the same parents could have offspring so different in every way. Each is unique in apperance, temperament, personality and outlook. You prize each one of them just because he is yours. You take each one as he is, enjoying him for his own self.

In the whole of childhood, each day seems so long in the living, and so short when you try to recall it. You do not want to feel, too late, that you have not savored to the full each phase of your child's development. Your feeling is not 'I hate to see this child grow up,' but 'I know that each step on the way up is too precious to lose.'

You cannot afford to miss some of the pleasures that come at the most unexpected moments. A little boy snuggles down under the covers, after saying goodnight, then jumps up again to give you one last hug. 'I'm the best hugger in the business,' he says, 'and all my hugs have Mommy and Daddy written on them.'"

Child-craft, c. 1954, Volume 12: You and Your Family