As I watched my younger son walk through the school’s front doors, I could feel the words not leave my lips. I usually yell “Take care of each other!” to him and his brother as they walk into school together. But that morning, his brother had a doctor’s appointment and wasn’t with us. It felt strange telling him to take care of someone who wasn’t there. But it was strange not saying it as well.

While some of the strangeness came from breaking my habit, some of it was because the words I say to them each morning encompass so much of what I want to teach them in life: “I love you” and “Take care of each other.” While these are simple phrases, they hold so much meaning.

When I say ”I love you,” it’s not a rote catchphrase. It encompasses everything I feel for them. It’s the love I feel when they’re hurt and I reassure them. It’s the love I feel seeing them go off to do things I know nothing about, knowing that they’re growing into independent people of their own. It’s the love I feel when I share things I enjoy with them and they share things they enjoy with me. It’s the love I feel as their mom.

“Take care of each other” is even more expansive. It’s nearly all encompassing. I do mean “each other” to mean the two of them, as brothers, as siblings, as family. But I also mean the other kids in their school. And the teachers. And the neighborhood. And the town. And the world – all of it, human and non-human. And “take care of” – well, that means so much as well. It means, love, respect, treat with kindness, show goodness, protect the dignity of. Ensure that you treat everyone with the love and respect they deserve. And not just individually! Fighting systems and institutions and people that want to deny or strip that respect from others. As the 12th Doctor said on Doctor Who: “Never be cruel, never be cowardly. … Remember – hate is always foolish…and love, is always wise. Always try, to be nice and never fail to be kind.”

So much is wrapped up in these simple words I say as they walk into school. Saying them isn’t enough by itself – I have to show it through my actions, my work, my everything for them to matter. My (and your!) every day life is what brings that expansiveness to them, what makes them mean so much. Otherwise they’re just a bunch of syllables strung together.

But despite all that, those little words do matter. They’re a daily reminder that my kids are both important and not the center of the world. That they deserve love and so does everyone else.

Or as one of my favorite authors, Kurt Vonnegut puts it, in not so school appropriate language: “There’s only one rule that I know of, babies-“God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.”