Children still enjoy swings — but much else has changed since Robert Louis Stevenson penned those words more than a century ago.

I started this project in a notebook in 1992 with the idea that someone needed to "update" A Child's Garden of Verses, rhyming "tales" about events in the life of today's child.   As of this moment, we no longer go "over the river and through the woods" on a sleigh to grandmother's house.   "Thanksgiving Trip."   (use "back" button on your browser to return to this spot)

I wanted a tone of personal values which become the child's own statements...  "I say 'Thank you,' sometimes twice."   "I Say Please."

While the immortal Dr. Seuss used just a few words, repeated repeatedly, I decided to work in as many words as I could.  A child may not know what "complicated" means but has fun saying it, "com – pli – kay – ted," followed by beaming smile of accomplishment.

Combining the goals, I tried to compose each piece as for a master's in early childhood development, "covering" daily events while taking moral high ground and providing workouts for little folk's teeth and tongues.

The Recordings

Well, the meter is sometimes hard to guess, so I started making tapes for children of family and friends as something to play at nap time and during the never-ending car trips.   I decided on 60-minute tapes to avoid burnout from the constant repetition children usually demand.

The tone was quiet, like Mr. Rogers.   The tapes were called "Godsends."   Children got calm and listened!   They stopped bickering and started reciting!   The families were coming home non-frazzled.

So much "information" is packed in each rhyme that they are compelled to pay full attention, and they are drawn inside by a first-person, "things – I – already – know" style.

Everyone relates to these "universal" events of everyday life, so all ages in the family enjoyed them — instead of just tolerating the youngest child's demand. Several "first words" were spontaneous recitation from the tapes.

It led me to think "the project" might have more than one-time-use significance, maybe bringing peace to frazzled families and breaking the vicious cycles of crime-punishment-resentment- crime-punish-resentment that are so common, especially during car rides.   That remains to be seen.   In any event, it is a slice of life.

Books & Classroom Testing

I printed books and solicited schools and families around the country to test the whole project... to make sure it wasn't just my friends who liked it.  (See Reviewers.)

This led to testing for two full years in 14 schools in 10 states where I understand they are still in use today.

One teacher wrote she was "stunned" at the quieting effect and interest the children showed.   That was the constant tone of comments.

Teachers made posters of various rhymes to hang in the rooms and hallways.   In Brooklyn, NY, children took turns reciting favorite ones over the intercom every morning since religious devotionals are not allowed.

The panel teachers asked that school-age issues be "covered," including those of inner-city urban America children.   From that came "Seven" which deals with weightier issues — as well as pep-talks to do well in school and home life.

During the eleven years since the project began I have seen and been told the children are growing up articulate, thoughtful, avoiding trouble — loving their brothers and sisters instead of being resentful, because at least that vicious cycle was over.