What Am I Made Of?

My Daddy’s Mom was soft and round.
So am I.
She smiled and called squirrels and birds to her side.
So do I.

My Mommys’ Mom was clean and hard.
So am I.
She looked after folks and organized lives.
So do I.

My Daddy’s Dad was silly and hard working.
So am I.
He honored the past and created the future.
So do I.

My Mommy’s Dad was short and strong.
So am I.
He loved to work with his crafty hands.
So do I.

My Daddy was smart, determined and proud.
So am I.
He stood straight and met life with his chin.
So do I.

My Mommy is small and fierce in her love.
So am I.
She challenged her kids and stood by her man.
So do I.

So where is the sugar and where is the spice?
It’s all in a nursery rhyme.
If you think we all came from the same recipe,
You’d better rethink that thought, twice.

It’s Parents’ Day, Wise Women.
We’re all familiar with Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day.  Parents’ Day is a relative newcomer to our calendar.  In 1994, President Clinton signed a Congressional Resolution into law which was established for “recognizing, uplifting, and supporting the role of parents in the rearing of children.”

Today, the word “Parents” means more than just mother and father.  Many children are being reared and loved by grandmothers and grandfathers, great grandmothers and great grandfathers, stepmothers and stepfathers, and foster mothers and fathers.  Aunts and uncles have stepped up to fill a void.  Older siblings.  Even neighbors or friends.  Some parents are the same gender.  Some are not. And sometimes the parent is a single person.

The recipe for “Parent” has changed to reflect our changing society.  What has NOT changed is that a Parent has a sacred duty.  To love, teach, support, encourage and protect each child in their custody. Most of us devote our lives to this duty.  Some fail.  And when they do, we hope and pray that SOMEONE will pick up the slack and give that child what EVERY CHILD deserves.

If you believe, as I do, that it takes a village to raise a child, look around your village.  Is there a parent that needs some help?  A job?  A few hours to themselves?  An encouraging word?  Some clothes for their kids or some school supplies?

Donate to organizations that help families.  Volunteer to work at schools or churches or synagogues or mosques.  Foster a child in need.  Write your Congress persons about legislature that affects parents and children.  Be an Advocate for children AND parents.

We are not made of sugar and spice and everything nice.  Nor snips and snails and puppy dog tails. We are made of bits and pieces of our parents, our families, our friends and our vast village.

Be made of the right stuff.
Love.