Love, Mommy (eBook)

How You Can Do It, Too- so how can you do it? I'll never forget when I was giving a workshop on my book, and a simple story like the first time I gave my son a bath opened the floodgates of memory in the participants. I followed the reading with the question, 'What was the moment when you knew you had become a mother for sure and there was no going back?' Boxes of Kleenex, lots of laughs and hours later, everyone emerged from the workshop cleansed, uplifted, and reminded of the best part of their lives. And so, there it was! The final piece fell into place. Getting you to write letters to your babies is what I most want to accomplish with this labor of love. Ideally, you will write your letters to your babies when they are babies. That's how you're most likely to capture all the details. But don't worry if your kids are a little older, you can still reach back into your memory and capture on paper what it was like when they were in your minute-by-minute care. It's never too late. Now the first thing most people think when asked to write something is, 'But I can't write. I'm not a writer.' But there is only one person your children want to hear from: you, their mommy, or daddy, not some Shakespearian genius or acclaimed New York Times best-selling author. Your children want to hear your voice, your tone, and your words, and that way they can have you close to them forever. Before each one of my letters, which I use as examples for you, there will be a note to moms and dads about how you can write the letter, along with some writing tips and suggestions to get you motivated and inspired. These notes will act as a prompt to stimulate your memory and imagination as you recall similar events with your children and begin to write them down. I will then include an example of a letter I wrote to one of my children. Following each letter is a short statement called 'The Magic Key,' a nugget extracted from the letter that captures something particular about the child or the incident being described. They are often one or more of the following: -An insight into a central characteristic or personality trait revealed by the baby during those precious early years. -A compliment that goes right to the being of the child. -A reminder of who they really are. -A word of inspiration to help them carry on in spite of life's trials. -A word of motherly or fatherly wisdom or advice that will open up rich possibilities in their lives as they grow. What all the Magic Keys have in common is that they are a lovely way of noticing and acknowledging something treasured about the children that makes them so special, both in their very being and in your relationship to them. In fact, if you were to list all these keys on a page, you would have a summary of the nature of your child that says: together, these keys unlock your very essence and this is why I love you so much - as if I needed any reason at all. This may be the central point of this book. As a mom I've had the pleasure of having lots of kids in our home since my children were babies. We've had a school in our house, lots of music groups, playdates, parties, and sleepovers, and everyone calls our house 'playgroup central.' What I have seen both with my children and all of their friends is that kids really thrive and blossom when they're noticed. Children have a wish to be seen and heard and acknowledged and by writing these letters and especially the Magic Keys, we are realizing that wish and elevating their spirit. We are consciously acknowledging what we cherish about their unique qualities, characteristics, and special gifts.