Essential Life Lessons To Teach Your Child
A Modern Day Fathers Perspective
Shaping the lives of our children is a tremendous responsibility as parents. Unfortunately, today's kids face several new obstacles that affect their well-being and how they interact with both adults and their peers.
As a father, I often reflect on my life experiences and what I've learned from my parents and grandparents when it comes to identifying fundamental values that I feel are vital in passing along to my child.
In a way, what follows is a love letter to my son. It's a heartfelt run down of what I would say to him about living the life that I would love for him to have, things that I hope he can take from me and pass along to his kids one day.
I'm hopeful that teaching your kids these life lessons will help them be more prepared to venture out to face the world as well.
What Are The Essential Life Lessons To Teach Your Kids?
Kids often model themselves after their parents, so first and foremost, we must be a day-to-day example to our kids of what it means to be a healthy adult.
Because there are so many things vying for our kid's attention these days, part of that is to remember that an honest conversation with a parent can go a long way towards a child's growth.
Given a chance to organize my thoughts the way I'm able to right now, here are the talking points of that conversation with my son about what lessons to carry with him through the rest of his life.
"Self-Esteem"
There's perhaps nothing more important in life than feeling good about yourself. So don't ever let someone else take control over how you feel. Having confidence goes a long way towards how you treat other people and your overall happiness.
Protect your self-esteem at all costs and learn to identify who or what you allow to affect it. You will have to learn to set a boundary for the behavior you're willing to accept from other people and not let their opinions affect you.
"Nothing In Life Is Perfect, So You Don't Have To Be."
It's okay to fail at something. I've learned more from my failures than from my successes, and those lessons have been some of the most important things that I've learned in my life.
You find out a lot about yourself when you go through adversity. How you respond to something difficult can build your character and make you ten times stronger than you ever thought you could be mentally, physically, and spiritually.
"Be Accountable"
You're going to make mistakes. When you do, it's important to take responsibility for them. Unfortunately, it's becoming more and more common for people to pass the blame on others and behave like our actions have no consequences.
I've learned to respect the people in my life that I know are willing to hold themselves to their word and admit when they are in the wrong or come up short of expectations.
"This Too Shall Pass"
As you go through life, you'll learn that it's only temporary whether your situation is good or bad. Neither the good times nor the bad last forever. So remember to appreciate life when things are going well and know that a change could be right around the corner when things aren't going the way you want.
So far, these life lessons have served me well, and maybe someday, my son might even come across this post and know that I was thinking of him.
If he does, I hope that he will take one final piece of advice from his father and take the opportunity to enjoy the moment.
