If you have read or seen the movie “The Help”, this title line may seem familiar to you. If you haven’t read the book- do it now! It is really amazing. If you haven’t seen the movie- do that too but only after you read the book!

The book is about African American women who are “The Help” in southern homes in the 1950s-1960s (and before). The women raise the white children and love them as their own- and oftentimes more naturally and more completely than their white mothers.

In one case, the mother is quite awful to her young daughter (maybe two or three years old) because the little girl isn’t beautiful- as if that is a reason….

The maid always tells the little girl “you is kind, you is smart, you is important.” I found myself hoping with all my being that this fictional little girl would remember these words her entire life.

I also found myself wondering what my life would have been like if someone in my life had whispered these words to me when I was a little girl- or even made me feel like I was these words…

After I saw the movie, I decided to tell Sennet this simple yet powerful statement nightly at bedtime.

So each night that I put him to bed I starting saying “Sennet- you are kind, you are smart, you are important.”

When we were in Guatemala he got really upset when I started to say it and he said “no, I want to say it” so he told me “you are kind, you are smart, you are important.” He also wanted to get out of bed and tell Aunt D the same thing. It was pretty cool to say the least.

When I started vocalizing this little phrase to Sennet, I never knew how much it would mean to me when Sennet said it to me. Most nights now, Sennet likes to say it first but I always make sure to say it in return. Like the fictional little girl in the book, I think it will stay with me for a very long time.