@Catherine: I agree. I just watched Back to the Future with the 10 year-old, and one of the quotes we liked was, “If you put your mind to it, you can do anything!”

@James: Thanks for stressing this — the older one is at the age where we feel we need to be sure we set the stage for honest, open communication.

I have two daughters. One is nearing 15 and one is 3. While I got off lucky being a boy with less to worry about, I’m terrified at some of the situations my daughters will face.

And I also never had parents I could talk to. I hid a lot of information from them and got out of my own problems. I had a few scary situations and regret some things in my life. If I’d known I could call my Mom or Dad for help or talk to them when I was in trouble, I might not have had these experiences.

So I stress to my kids that no matter what, they can talk to me. And maybe, when they have kids, they’ll teach them the same. Parents are there to help, not just to lay down the law.

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These are all great tips and practices for parents to include in child rearing.

Our kids are all grown, with kids of their own, but the one thing I can really remember was teaching them that actions (good or bad) have consequences…so, think first.

I also tried to get the kids not to say “I hate her/him”, as used that way, “hate” has a very strong, negative connotation. I would prefer they said “I dislike…”.

Raising children is a tough job. It’s good to hear how involved you are. They will appreciate that when they are older, and will model your actions when they have children of their own. Children do learn what they live.

In fact, there’s a beautiful poem about that. Just search online for “children learn what they live poem”. It’s pretty powerful.

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