What Should You Teach Your Child — Advice From England’s Favorite Poet

Are you a parent struggling with what to teach your child about navigating through life? Rudyard Kipling might come in handy. His 32-verse poem, If, makes for a wonderful collection of parental advice.

Kipling had a son, John, and he aimed to guide him into becoming a fine man with integrity, love for what’s right, and the strength to carry on through the thick and thins of life.

A collection of moral lessons and best conduct advice, If is full of valuable life lessons that both sons and daughters can learn from. Through it all, it’s about knowing and accepting yourself for who you are, being confident, and working hard, motivated by inner factors rather than the uncontrollable, outer factors.

. . .

If — by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream — and not make dreams your master;

If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And — which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son!

. . .

Kipling’s words made it to a very famous place

Few people know that two verses of this poem are quoted at All England Club in Wimbledon. The world’s oldest tennis tournament makes its finalists gaze at the following two lines from Rudyard Kipling’s If poem, right before they set foot onto the outdoor grass court:

If people competing for fame and millions of dollars are encouraged to treat both success and failure as the imposters they are, wouldn’t we all be much better treating them the same, in our humble lives?

You’ll often win, and often lose, but all are passing moments we should regard equally. What matters is that you stay true to yourself, and follow your path with the same commitment.

Talk about life lessons that both children and adults could use!

—

This post was previously published on A Parent Is Born.

***

You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project

Compliments Men Want to Hear More Often

Relationships Aren’t Easy, But They’re Worth It

The One Thing Men Want More Than Sex

..A Man’s Kiss Tells You Everything