Teaching Moments – Child 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 encouragement, they learn confidence.

If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.

If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.

If children live with acceptance, they learn love.

Dorothy Nolte wrote this poem and in 1998 collaborated with Rachel Harris to turn it into a book. The book titled Children Learn What They Live: Parenting to Inspire Values, sold over three million copies worldwide. Nolte died in November 2005 in Rancho Santa Margarita, California at the age of 81.

Suggestions for implementation:
1. Cut out the poem, enlarge it, and put it on your refrigerator.
2. Buy Dorothy Nolte’s book. It is a gift for future generations of caring parents.

Quote for discussion:
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”
Aesop