Poetry Friday: What Can Poetry Do for Parents?

For this Poetry Friday I wanted to share this great essay I found on the Poetry Foundation’s website. Author Elliott Vanskike makes the great point that in order for children to know that they can turn to poetry during confusing times in their childhood and adulthood, the foundation has to be built early by parents and teachers. Not to mention, poetry can also bring comfort to sleep-deprived parents: ” Poetry offers other benefits for the beleaguered parent. A large part of parenting consists of mindless repetition—changing diapers again, cutting pancakes into triangles again, saying, “How do we ask for things nicely?” again. But poetry uses repetition to sound new depths of meaning and find nuance in sameness,” writes Vanskike.

Read the full essay on the Poetry Foundation website and then share how you incorporate poetry into your child’s everyday life.