You Only Have To Start

You Only Have To Start
by Stacey Biemiller Maisch

Staring at an empty page
tears rolling down his chin.
He sighs, frustrated,
thinking that I don’t understand him.

I want to tell him that I know
exactly how he feels.
I want to hug him, comfort him
assist with this ordeal.

Instead I stand one room away
just peeking in to see
if he has started working yet,
but I can’t let him see me.

He needs to puzzle through this,
Needs to get there on his own.
He needs to learn how to begin,
so he can get it done.

He’s only eight, in second grade,
hating both homework and me.
It’s not that I don’t want to help;
I just need to let him be.

I need to let him flail and fret;
I need to let him be upset.
I need to watch him struggle.
If it’s too easy, he’ll forget.

Once this is finally finished,
I know he’ll stomp and fuss.
He’ll claim how much he just hates school,
and even, possibly, us.

But when it’s over, he will know
that he completed this task.
And any future hurdles
won’t be too much to ask.

By butting out, a room away,
I just hope he learns
The best rewards cannot be given;
No, they must be earned.

I hope someday that he will know,
deep down in his heart,
that all things become possible.
You only have to start.

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I wrote this poem after reading the following phenomenal article from Forbes, 7 Crippling Parenting Behaviors That Keep Children From Growing Into Leaders. I am guilty of more than half of these things, so I still have a long way to go.