There is an abundance of lists out there telling us what we should tell our children each day. Some I agree with and some I do not. My own list encapsulates the spirit we carry at Acton Academy for each child. I decided to share it for that reason:

• I trust you.
• I like you. (This is not a variation of “I love you.” It is something completely different.)
• I can’t wait to see what choices you make today.
• You can do really hard things.
• You are a treasure; the fact that you exist is what brings me joy.
• I was wrong. I am sorry.
• Tell me more.
• I love spending time with you – even if we are doing nothing or running errands.

I’ll close with this poem by Robert Frost. It is one of my favorites because it is so tenderly intimate. His words remind me how precious is an invitation to do daily life together. I try to remember this and think aloud about the tasks I need to do within hearing distance from my boys. I then say, “You come too.” Sometimes they do and my soul sings because there we are just quietly filling up bird feeders together, or picking out fruit at the grocery store.

The Pasture

I’m going out to clean the pasture spring;

I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away

(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):

I sha’n’t be gone long.—You come too.

I’m going out to fetch the little calf

That’s standing by the mother. It’s so young,

It totters when she licks it with her tongue.

I sha’n’t be gone long.—You come too.