BROADCASTS.com

b'

Your job today as a father is to do one thing. It\\u2019s to read this poem, which dates back to 1895, and then to think about how to incorporate its lessons into how you raise your kids. Ignore the gendered language (it was written as advice to the poet\\u2019s son) because it doesn\\u2019t matter. There isn\\u2019t any child, boy or girl, at any age who won\\u2019t benefit from this wisdom.\\xa0

If\\u2014\\xa0

BY RUDYARD KIPLING

If you can keep your head when all about you\\xa0 \\xa0

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,\\xa0 \\xa0

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;\\xa0 \\xa0

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don\\u2019t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don\\u2019t give way to hating,

And yet don\\u2019t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream\\u2014and not make dreams your master;\\xa0 \\xa0

If you can think\\u2014and not make thoughts your aim;\\xa0 \\xa0

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;\\xa0 \\xa0

If you can bear to hear the truth you\\u2019ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

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

And stoop and build \\u2019em 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,\\xa0 \\xa0

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: \\u2018Hold on!\\u2019

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,\\xa0 \\xa0

Or walk with Kings\\u2014nor 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\\u2019 worth of distance run,\\xa0 \\xa0

Yours is the Earth and everything that\\u2019s in it,\\xa0 \\xa0

And\\u2014which is more\\u2014you\\u2019ll be a Man, my son!

Go!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.