Children Learn What They Live
Children Learn What They Live
If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to be shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn what envy is.
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 be confident.
If children live with praise, they learn to appreciate.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to find love in the world.
If children live with recognition, they learn to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn to be generous.
If children live with honesty and fairness, they learn what truth and justice are.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those around them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn that the world is a nice place in which to live.
If children live with serenity, they learn to have peace of mind.
With what are your children living?
© Dorothy L. Nolte, All rights reserved
Dorothy Law Nolte (1924 – 2005) was an American writer and family counselor. She wrote a poem on childrearing, “Children Learn What They Live”, for a weekly family column for The Torrance Herald in 1954. The poem was widely circulated by readers as well as distributed to millions of new parents by a maker of baby formula. She copyrighted it in 1972, and in 1998 expanded it into a book, co-authored with Rachel Harris, “Children Learn What They Live: Parenting to Inspire Values”. At the time of Nolte’s death, the book had more than 3 million copies in print worldwide and had been translated into 18 languages, according to its publisher, Workman Publishing. Mrs. Nolte and Ms. Harris also collaborated on “Teenagers Learn What They Live: Parenting to Inspire Integrity and Independence” (Workman Publishing, 2002).
With her second husband, Claude Nolte, Nolte also co-authored the book “Wake Up in Bed, Together! A Handbook for Sexual Repatterning” (Stein & Day, 1975).
