I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope they learn humility by being humiliated, and that they learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope they learn to make their own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.

And I really hope nobody gives them a brand new car when they are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time they can see puppies born and their old dog put to sleep.

I hope they get a black eye fighting for something them believe in.

I hope they have to share a bedroom with each other. And it's all right if them have to draw a line down the middle of the room,but when she wants to crawl under the covers with him because she's scared, I hope he lets her.

When he wants to see a movie and she wants to tag along, I hope he'll let her.

If they want a slingshot, I hope their Dad teaches them how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope they learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When they learn to use computers, I hope they also learn to add and subtract in their head.

I hope they get teased by their friends when they have their first crush, and when they talk back to their mother that they learn what home-made soap tastes like.

May they skin their knees climbing a mountains, burn their hand on a stove and stick their tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if they try a beer once, but I hope they don't like it. And if a friend offers them dope or a joint, I hope they realize he/she is not their friend.

I sure hope they make time to sit on a porch with their Grandma/Grandpa/Mom/Dad and go fishing with one of them too.

May they feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope their mother punishes them when them throw a baseball through their neighbor's window and that she hugs them and kisses them at Christmas time when they give her a plaster mold of their hand.

These things I wish for them - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

Note: No, I didn't write it... just tweaked something I found to fit my kids