By Angharad Davies
I remember waiting for my son’s first words like they were magic.
We celebrated every syllable. I logged them in baby books, texted the news to grandparents, smiled through happy tears. I still remember how “mumum” and “yum-yum” sounded so alike, and how I never quite knew if he needed me or food.
Seven years on from those magical first syllables, I am now collecting the words of mothers from around the world – the ones that they most want their children to remember – the words we all wish to whisper, repeat, or sometimes ache to say.
Words like:
“You are so loved”.
“You can always come to me”.
“You don’t have to be perfect”.
Because what I have realised is that there is a kind of connection that lasts long after our children leave our laps – long after they outgrow the sling and the family bed. Long after they have formed their first words. And this connection comes through their forever words.
These messages from mothers will be featured on illustrated post-it notes in the front and back pages of a children’s book – one created to help kids hold onto who they truly are. Because these forever words don’t just connect us to our children; they connect our children to themselves.
Weaving Forever Words into Everyday Life
Forever words aren’t usually the big, standout declarations. They’re the ones spoken when we’re putting on their shoes or whispering them to sleep. They’re the words that grow from how we show up day after day – not perfectly, but presently.
These forever words are simply an extension of the connection you’re already building. You can speak them aloud at bedtime, tuck them into lunchboxes, write them on mirrors, on post-it notes, on bathroom tiles. You can whisper them into the tops of sweaty heads after big emotions or sing them into ordinary moments – until they become a melody your child carries always.
And the beautiful thing is, you’re probably already saying them. You say them with your arms. You say them in how you attune, in how you comfort, in how you notice.
Forever words are a way of giving your child something they’ll never outgrow. Because one day, they will outgrow the sling. They’ll roll away from your side at night. They’ll nurse for the last time and not even realise it was the last.
But these words? The ones you choose with intention? They’ll still be there, woven into the fabric of who they are, carried in their heart for a lifetime. Because this is more than language. It’s legacy.
A Movement Grown from an Echo
My son, now seven, recently reflected back to me the forever words we had planted as seeds to support him during a difficult start to school life. With such enthusiasm, he declared to want to “help everyone live the truth in their hearts“.
