First posted on One Generation to Another on May 13, 2008.
I brought my mother buttercups one day when she was weary,
She said I brought the sun inside, so shiny bright and cheery.
And then my mother winked at me, and then I heard her mutter,
I’m glad there’s sun in buttercups, instead of plain old butter.
When my oldest son was in kindergarten, he needed to recite a poem before the whole school. He chose the poem “I Brought My Mother Buttercups”. Try as he might, he couldn’t memorize it. Finally, after working with him for quite a while, I realized the words of the poem fit perfectly to the tune of Lemon Tree. So, for 2 weeks before the recital, we sang the song over and over each night before he went to bed. When the big day rolled around, my shy little boy, stood before the entire school, and recited his poem perfectly. (Only I noticed the slight melodic tone!)
I had long ago forgotten the poem, but for Mother’s Day this year I got a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my son with the note… “Sorry, no buttercups, but Happy Mother’s Day”.
Never underestimate the significance of ANYTHING we do with our children!
Edit: Check out comments for the original set of comments posted with this blog. Especially pay attention to Michelle’s that gives a little more info about I Brought My Mother Buttercups 🙂
These are the comments brought over from One Generation to Another 🙂
Submitted by Kimara 05/18/2008 – 18:50.
Thanks to everyone for their comments! In response to everyone’s aghast at having a kindergartener recite before the whole school, I’ll make this one statement…CATHOLIC SCHOOL 🙂 Actually, it turned out to be a wonderful event and not a single child froze on stage. (Although I will interject that the judging was fixed! The little girl who "won" the medal for best performance was Sister Beth’s class pet who recited "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Wow…what a stretch! Anyway, Adam doesn’t remember the "competition" portion of the recital, but I certainly do, which only goes to demonstrate how stage mothers are born!!!) Anyway…one thing is clear from everyone’s comments…although most moms may not APPEAR to be appreciated at the time, everything we do impacts and molds our children. And because everyday we interact with our children, we have boundless opportunities to demonstrate love. I think that is awesome!
Submitted by Michelle (not verified) on Fri, 05/16/2008 – 17:00.
When my brother first sent the flowers my mom thought it was sweet but didn’t make the buttercup connection at first. She was trying to think why he thought Buttercups were her favorite flower. I did an "umm Mom, don’t you remember I brought my mother Buttercups." I believe I sung it back to her. So I had picked it up too. And of course it came rushing back to her with a huge dose of guilt for not making the immediate connection… but it was just one thing in a long list… multiple by three kids and well as kids I think we held onto some of that stuff more than she did – it is actually a part of who we are not just a memory. Of course then the waterworks came when my mom’s memory was jogged and she saw the true significance of the gift.
The thing is… it really was just one of millions of things she did for us. A tiny piece of the puzzle. And all these baby books and photos we try to upkeep for our kids are really for us parents. Although interested in my baby calendar… it didn’t bring tears to my eyes… it was really for my mom. As a kid those memories are really built into who we are not just an event to be remember. Amazing to think about with my own kids. Which pieces are becoming their building blocks? What will they weave into who they become?
Happy Belated Mother’s Day All!
Submitted by Lisa (not verified) on Thu, 05/15/2008 – 17:31.
OMG! I’m with Tina. I can’t imagine any kindergartener having to recite a poem before his own class much less his entire school! But it certainly shows a devoted mom who helps her child pull it off! This makes me think about the idea that parenting does not always provide immediate results. It’s not like baking a cake that either turns out or not. We hope we are doing a good job, but it’s not until they go off on their own and into the real world that you really get to see if your nurturing and instilling of morals "worked". I think my kids will be great adults because I think they are great kids, but when you hear stories like yours, it really is encouraging to keep putting in effort. I think most kids will remember the things we’ve done for them or with them, but it’s darn nice to hear about it actually happening! BTW my computer is held together with duct tape and was on the fritz last week so I couldn’t comment. It probably seems like I’m the kind of person who would really get into spring cleaning but there really isn’t anything special I do. I’m so obsessive about cleaning throughout the year I don’t have special jobs that need doing. Think I might have just found the one benefit of being a cleaning freak 😉
Submitted by Tina (not verified) on Thu, 05/15/2008 – 08:26.
That is very sweet. Funny he remembers that song/poem from Kindergarten. Of course, all I could think of was the idea of trying to get my own Kindergartener to memorize a poem to recite to the entire school! Yikes! No thanks! I’m not looking forward to the day that he starts to get homework.
Submitted by Candy (not verified) on Tue, 05/13/2008 – 23:11.
That brought tears to my eyes. I just read a devotional about being invisible as a mother and comparing it to all the invisible people who work to build such incredible things as cathedrals and castles and they never get recognition, but without each of them, the project (whatever it may be) would never have been completed or done the same. This is another one of those things. Thanks for sharing that!
Submitted by Cheryl (not verified) on Tue, 05/13/2008 – 17:49.
Of course I don’t have kids so I can’t speak to raising my own but I know it’s the little things that make the difference between a good mom and a great mom. I really appreciate the fact that my mom took the time to introduce me to her music and movies, although I don’t totally understand her appreciation of some of it! And no matter how tight money was she frequently surprised me with little gifts throughout the year that she would actually wrap. Little things but I delighted in them. A couple of times a year we’d both play hooky from work and school. We’d go out and do the craziest things like try on wedding dresses or once we went to a funeral home, don’t ask, made sense at the time! We may not all have kids but we all have mothers. And tons of memories. (Thanks Mom!)
Submitted by Sarah (not verified) on Tue, 05/13/2008 – 16:19.
That is so sweet! Must have made you cry! My mom often accuses me of forgetting all the things she did for me. That is so not true. I probably remember more things then she does. I remember one year she stayed up all night finishing my Halloween costume. I was in middle school. Then, on Halloween, my friends decided it was lame to still wear costumes so I didn’t even wear the costume she stayed up all night finishing. I know at the time I wasn’t as appreciative as I should have been but obviously I didn’t forget what she did. Of course we both remember important big things but it’s amazing how many little acts of kindness that stay with us and guide our own parenting! Happy belated Mother’s Day and have a good week!
Oh, so sweet. Last week my sisters and I were talking to our mom. We were having an old “remember when we…” conversation. We were teasing my mom about how many things she didn’t remember that she did. But I think MIchelle is right. Mom’s do so many things for their children everyday. Who knows which things will become important and lasting. I know I stive to me like my mom.
OMG. I don’t think you could get my kindergartener to say his name on stage much less recite anything! Yikes! It is the little things we do everyday that makes the difference, isn’t it?