ISO: Inspiring/Encouraging quote/poem about mothering

[JustMe]

A friend is having a different kind of baby shower. No gifts are necessary. The requests are that everyone bring a bead that will be made into a necklace for her and also a quote/saying/poem that is inspiring, encouring, nuturting, etc, related to being a mother. I love this idea. Unfortunately, I am not able to make the shower due to a conflict that cannot be changed. I would like to come up with a really nice quote, I will be getting a nice bead (which I am sure no one can help me with unless there is an on-line bead store), and I also do plan on giving some sort of gift. (I am 100% in support of not giving gifts when people specifiy "no gifts", but this wording was more along the lines of gifts not necessary. Also, I will not be attending the shower so this will be given at a different time anyway). I would prefer if the gift was more sentimental as opposed to pratical, as that is what she seems to be wanting. Some relevant facts

-This is her 2nd child, but her other child is much older. Both are girls.
-She is very attachment based in terms of her parenting

Any ideas on the quote/poem and the gift?

thanks!

[MomToOne]

You could try Quote Garden (http://www.quotegarden.com/). Lots of stuff there

[american_mama]

FWIW I had a baby shower like this, minus the beads. You can look at quotes related to motherhood, childhood, love, childbirth, motivation, hard work/effort (she might be planning to use the quotes as motivation during labor) or what makes a person unique.

I also wouldn't sweat the quote thing. I loved my shower and enjoyed sharing the quotes, but the actual pieces of paper with the words ended up mattering very little to me. I also discovered that other people's quotes didn't strike the right chord in me; apparently, even my friends are not mind readers in knowing what would resonate with me.

There have been a few quote threads on BBB which you can search. Some people have nice quotes in their siggies, some of which were copied into a thread or two.

[firsttimemama]

If you google "baby blessing" or "blessingway" + quote(s) I think you'll find some stuff.

I love this poem

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rock-a-bye, Lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek-peek-a-boo).
The shopping is not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there is a hullabaloo.
But I'm playing "Kanga" and this is my "Roo."
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rock-a-bye, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, 1958

but I think at these type of showers, the quote is more often labor related (?) Like:

“There is a secret in our culture and it is not that birth is painful but that women are strong”.

This is one I came across recently that I thought was interesting:
‎"mothers aren't at their births, they're in their births— they're in labor, in a trance, in their body, in joy!"
- Pam England

[♥ms.pacman♥]

If you google "baby blessing" or "blessingway" + quote(s) I think you'll find some stuff.

I love this poem

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rock-a-bye, Lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek-peek-a-boo).
The shopping is not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there is a hullabaloo.
But I'm playing "Kanga" and this is my "Roo."
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rock-a-bye, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, 1958


awww! maybe it's the preggo hormones but this brought tears to my eyes. :heartbeat: thanks for posting.

and this is kinda long but a while back i posted an excerpt from a book on mothering, found it pretty inspirationa;
http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=373761

[ljackson]

I like this poem (and you could easily alter it to fit a girl instead if necessary:

I Took His Hand and Followed

My dishes went unwashed today
I didn't make my bed
I took his hand and followed
Where eager footsteps led

Oh Yes, we went adventuring
My little child and I
Exploring all the great outdoors
Beneath the sun and sky

We watched a robin feed her young
We climbed a sunlit hill
Saw cloud-sheep scamper through the sky
We plucked a daffodil.

That my house was so neglected
That I didn't brush the stairs
In twenty years no one on earth
Will know or even care.

But that I've helped my little child
To noble adulthood grow
In twenty years the whole wide world
May look and see and know.

— Author Unknown

[JustMe]

Thank you so much everyone!

[MamaKath]

http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=306110&highlight=mother+quotes

Here was a similar thread from awhile back too. One of my very favorites is... "God sends children for another purpose than merely to keep up the race -- to enlarge our hearts, to make us unselfish, and full of kindly sympathies and affections." -- Mary Howitt