If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn;
If children live with hostility, they learn how to fight;
If children live with ridicule, they learn to be shy;
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.

If children live with tolerance, they learn to be patient;
If children live with encouragement, they learn to have confidence;
If children live with praise, they learn to appreciate;
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.

 If children live with security, they learn to have faith;
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves;
If children live with love around them, they learn to give love to the world.

The reading, entitled ‘Meditation on the Upbringing of Children’ by Dorothy Lowe Nolte, enables us to think about some of the responsibilities that all parents undertake. It is a poem which says that the way in which we are brought up helps to determine what we become as adults.