What children take from us, they give… We become people who feel more deeply, question more deeply, hurt more deeply and love more deeply.

Sonia Taitz

My wife sent me this quote recently and I really liked it.

Children mirror our behavior, how you behave today, your baby will behave tomorrow. That being said, the most effective way to instill certain values to your children is by practicing them yourself in front of your children, but also when they are not around because those values should be normal to you and a habit.

One of my favorite examples for this from my life is when I go to church with my wife and daughter. Every time we enter a church my wife and I would dip our fingers into holy water and crossed ourselves saying “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.” It didn’t take long for my 2 year old daughter to catch on what we were doing, now every time we enter a church she immediately asks to dip her hand into holy water and then she crosses herself and she does it very loudly, everyone can hear her and she sparks a lot of smiles around her when she does it. That always makes me proud.

So to wrap up, if you want your child to grow up and be kind to people, you must be kind to people. If you want your child to be able to recognize what love is so that he/she can choose a right partner, YOU must show your child how to love your partner. The child must witness love their parents have for each other, no amount of TALK about what true love looks like can replace you SHOWING them that every day. If you don’t want your child to swear, YOU must be the one that controls the words you speak, especially in anger, to control your anger and refrain from swearing and other bad words. We could go on and on with examples, but it’s not necessary.

I hope that you will apply this to your life either now if you have kids or one day you get them. Have a lovely Wednesday and come back again some other day.