Family Values

ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN is a book that I have read many times over many years -- and each time I connect with something different depending on where I am in my life at that moment. After attending a writing workshop and discussing freelance writing opportunities -- this book came to mind. In the author's note at the beginning of the book, Fulghum calls the book a collection of "my stuff -- a written report about what goes on in my head and life."

Well that is what I want to do -- and I got some wonderful introspections for my own "stuff" by rereading this classic and letting my mind wander into different places and topics.

My favorite selections
Giants, wizards, and dwarfs (p83)
I'm in charge of the laundry (p11)
Playing Sardines (p58)
The year I didn't receive any Christmas cards (p89)

The best quote that I have carried around with me for 20 years is on page 20 --"Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will break our hearts..."

So I will put this title back on the bookshelf where one fine day I will run across it again and take it off the shelf and thumb through its pages to find yet another encounter with words wonderful. ( )

Fulghum’s book retains the potency of a common though no less relevant piece of wisdom: that the most basic aspects of life bear its most important opportunities.

Here Fulghum engages us with musings on life, death, love, pain, joy, sorrow, and the best chicken-fried steak in the continental United States. The little seed in the Styrofoam cup offers a reminder about our own mortality and the delicate nature of life .

Good observations on good life practices. ( )

Fulghum, a retired Unitarian minister sets out his credo here, ranging from "Share everything" to "hold hands and stick together." This is told in stories, and includes the famous "Kindergarten" essay that was read on the floor of the U. S. Senate.