I think one of the hardest things facing us as parents today is the issue of disciplining our children and raising and training them to become well developed, successful young people.
In light of this, there are some things I believe our kids should know...
As
the father of two extremely active and intelligent young men, I want my sons to be leaders, not followers.
I want them to be men of action, not just of words. I want them to be men of integrity, to hold true to their word, and to honour a handshake.
I want them to open a door for a lady, to help an old person across the street, to stand up when a lady enters the room.
Take your wife’s jacket off when she gets inside, and carry a stranger’s stroller onto the bus for her, as her arms are full of diaper bag and baby.
Respect your elders and superiors.
Call any man sir, whether he be the janitor or a millionaire.
Take your gloves off when shaking a man’s hand, and always look someone in the eye when talking to them.
Try to avoid violence at all costs, but do not hesitate to land some thug on his @$$ if he’s attacking your mother, sister, brother or any helpless stranger.
Avoid cursing when you can, there’s nearly always a better word in your vocabulary.
Don’t judge someone by the clothes they wear or the colour of their skin, they are not good indicators of character.
Surround yourself with people of good character, and you will find success.
Pursue the dream, not the meal ticket.
Keep your head in the clouds, but your feet firmly on the ground.
Always stay in the black. Pay back what you owe in a timely fashion.
Stand up and admit when we’ve made mistakes. Owning our mistakes and correcting them is a good lesson to our kids in itself.
And as parents, we don’t always get this right. I’m looking at this list myself, and taking notes :-)
But we can get there.
-peace
(November 30th) (
