Family Poems - Bonding Families With Enchantment

We live in a society that really emphasizes individuality. This is a wonderful thing, and I don't think we would want it any other way, because every one of us is unique and special. But sometimes, this means that as children grow up, they start to drift away from their families.

They might start to feel their parents don't understand them; or their brothers and sisters don't like the same kinds of things as they do; or the new dog and cat aren't as fluffy as the old dog and cat were. Maybe Aunt Betsy and Uncle Duke give them chocolate ice-cream when they want strawberry. So, they set out on their own to get more strawberry ice cream, and find fluffier pets; and pretty soon they haven't even called home for a year or more. This can be a very sad time for their family, which misses them.

The Power of Family Poems
Children naturally take to writing poetry. Poetry is enchanting because, well, it chants. Adults are always just "saying" something. They're always reading and writing prose. Did you ever stop to think that all of an adult's bills and tax forms and medical records are all written in prose? And really dull prose, too. What if all of that stuff were written as poetry? It might not make things cost any less money, but maybe people would smile more.

Writing poetry is more like writing words set to music, or even coming up with magic spells. So when children write or read family poems, they are receiving a sense of wonder and enchantment about their place in a family. They are feeling how magical it is to belong to a family. And especially if they write the poems themselves, they have to think about what things to say about Mommy, Daddy, doggie, kittie, cousin Bob, little sister, and everyone else concerned. And when they think of these things, they can see them in a whole new light, like they never have before.

Encouraging Poems
Adults can read poetry to their children. In fact, this is really not done enough these days. Mommy and Daddy should find favorite (and suitable) poetry to read to their children. The children who write their own family poems will naturally start using the rhythms, rhymes, and descriptive elements they hear and read in the other poems.

Children should definitely be encouraged to write their own unique poems. Children find much to be inspired by, and they are still discovering new things in words and language. Their poems can be very creative, imaginative, or heart-warming. They can teach the adults a few things with their poems, too.