For anyone who is a mother of multiple children, you can probably relate to the feeling of failure when they are constantly bickering or hurling insults at one another. As a mom, one of my main goals in life is to foster a loving bond between my four kids that will last a lifetime. I wish I had a nickel for everytime I've reminded them our house is one another's 'safe place' and if even if no one else on the planet cared a thing about us, we could still come home and be assured we are loved.

I have wondered many times if they hear me at all when I get on my rants, but my oldest proved to me today that at least some of it is getting through. I went to his class party and he pulled out a poem he had written to the classic, "Twas the Night Before Christmas.." When he told me he had written it about his little pesky brother, I was ready for an epic recounting all the horrors of their day-to-day struggles. But instead, I was touched to my core when I read this: