Family Values

My Definition:
Honesty with children and parents
Loyalty to family even in tough times
Being compassionate and merciful at all times
Treating children as human beings not property
Being unafraid of others
Teaching children not to be afraid.
Be willing to say you are sorry and mean it.
Do not expect more from a child than you do from yourself.
Embrace the world
Teach your children to embrace the world
Be patient with yourself, your spouse, and the children
The glass is ALWAYS half full or more so
Give all love unconditionally. For there is no other kind.
Practice what you preach

Why:
Honesty is first and formost. Lying to a child is a sure way to make them mistrust you when ever you open your mouth.

Loyalty, not blind loyalty, but honoring the family unit and being willing to fight and die for it.

If you cannot treat you spouse and children with compassion and mercy you should not be in a family or have one. Go get help.

Children are humans and you will spend far more years dealing with them as adults than as little kids. Start treating them as individual people from the start.

You cannot be a good parent if you are afraid of the world around you. The children pick up on that fear and begin to wonder if you can protect them and then they begin to fear the world, their sole filling with dread.

There is nothing so monstrous as a parent who makes a mistake and never acknowledges it. If you wish your children to admit their failures then you have to do the same.

He that is without sin cast the first stone.

Embracing the world is done by learning and always keeping an inquisitive nature. Never shutting down and turning away. Children see your love of knowledge and wish to imitate it.

Patience is so very hard and so very necessary. But it must flow to the whole family. It does not good to be patient with your own foibles and not with the kids and your spouse.

Life is short and full of trouble. Best to see the good side.

Love given in any other form than unconditionally is selfish control, loathsome, cruel, and hateful to God.

The last is self evident.

Parents owe their kids at least as much as the kids owe them. Remember the kids did not ask to come into the world. They were dragged kicking and screaming into it.