Teach children something new - daily

Our job as parents is to raise 'adults'. We're bringing up children but we are creating adults and we need to create decent adults. Adults who understand their job is to be respectful to others, use manners, not be self-indulgent and self-serving. Not entitled adults that think the world owes them a decent living. Not aggressive twats who think king hitting people is acceptable.
We need to raise decent human beings who go out in the word and be awesome because you showed them how or gave them good stepping stones to follow.

A good way to do this is to teach your children something (age appropriate) each and every day. It could be: how to organise their toys, how to organise their clothes, how to bake a cake, how to make a bed, how to prune a plant, what weeds look like and how to remove them, how to work out maths, how to read, how to draw, how to grate a carrot, light a match to turn on the gas stove or light a candle for you, how to fix a bike or a flat tire, how to fix a broken power cord, where the dust pan and brush is, how to clean up after themselves, how to be responsible for their actions and words, what being respectful looks like.

I'm sure there are many, many skills and talents you have that you can pass onto you children - one new thing each day.

When I say age appropriate keep in mind many children are more capable than we give them credit for. Children as young as 10 are more than capable of baking a cake from start to finish. A three year old is more than capable of tidying up their room.

Teach them something important and useful.  How to toke on a bong or swig a beer, how to smoke a cigarette or beat up your family... are NOT good things to teach your children.  I understand not everyone is going to have a decent upbringing and this will be their reason for also not raising their children well or nicely (unless they go against the system and do a better job than their parents did). Still if you're reading this and you are that kind of parent... STOP! Teach your children a skill you have that is useful, even dodgy parents have useful skills. We all do.

I'm a big fan of teaching my children big words. They'll be 3, 4, 5, 6... and I'll use a big word in a sentence. My partner complains that they don't understand what that word means and he's right, they don't. However when I use it in a sentence they hear the word and how it fits into what I'm saying and what that creates as they get older is children who are clever and know and use big word themselves.

I'm also a big fan of teaching my children how to cook (age appropriate) from scratch. How to bake a cake or make home made cookies, bake beans on toast, boil an egg. My middle child can make a cake from start to finish without my help. I can ask them if they'd like to bake a cake and if they say yes then I let them go for it. The confidence this has given them is amazing and them feel so happy being seen as responsible. As they get older the recipes get more complex so that when they leave home they will be able to feed themselves!

Those are my talents and I pass them on. My partner has different talents to teach and you do too. Having children is your time to shine and get those talents out and show them off. It's a great feeling when you see your children repeating something awesome you've taught them.