Their Secret Poem by Jim Yerman

He was about to become a father…yes, a child he would beget!
So he browsed through countless bookstores…and he surfed the internet.

He was searching for a book on parenting…because he didn't have a clue…
but there were a million books with a million different experts and a million points of view.

He was overwhelmed, he couldn't possibly read them all…
then he thought back to his childhood
back to when he was growing up…and how all his memories were good.

He thought back with a smile…his life seemed like paradise.
So he sat down with his parents and he asked for their advice.

"I want to be a good father." He said. "The best Dad I can be.
I want to be the kind of parent you both have been to me."

His parents smiled inwardly…his mom wiped away a tear.
Has there ever been a better statement to reach a parent's ears?

"We only had two principles." Mom said, with an approving smile from Dad.
"They were the same two fundamentals that our own parents had."

"Every child needs to know they're loved, " Mom said, "from January to December."
"And it's up to you as a parent, " Dad continued, "to give them good things to remember."

He and his wife took these words to heart,
they tried to make their children's world a paradise…
and there came a day they, too, had to smile
when their son,
about to be a father,
asked for their advice…