I can’t think of any job in the world more important but harder to do well than parenting. When you think of the million of things a parent can do wrong, it boggles the mind. And even if you do most everything right, the kid can decide to screw it all up and leave parents wondering where they went wrong. The good news is, no one does it perfectly, and most kids turn out okay and grow up to have their own kids so they can worry about doing things wrong. It’s a beautiful circle.
So, when we think of the most important value to teach a child, it’s impossible to narrow it to one. We want our children to be honest, self-sufficient, loving, hard-working, trustworthy, etc. Sigh. But if I have to pick one, I’ll say that teaching your child to love is the most important.
When parents teach their children to love—not just others, but themselves—they are also teaching respect for life. Loving means they don’t hurt others purposefully and that they learn to say “I’m sorry” when they do it accidentally. It means they learn to share and give to help those who can’t help themselves. It means they grow up trying to do the right thing and not to cause harm.
How do we teach kids to be loving? One way—the best way, I think—is by 
example. If parents show love for each other as well as for their children, they demonstrate what a good relationship is. It builds a web of love that can’t help but extend to outside the family structure.
Perhaps I make it all sound easy. It isn’t. As a parent, loving means being consistent, so the child learns. It means correcting behavior that doesn’t show caring, even when correcting is hard to do. It means taking time to be loving, even when it seems there is no time. It means doing your regular job, but never forgetting that parenting is the real job.
We’re going through a crazy, topsy-turvy world right now, and we could use a lot more love. If we teach our kids to love themselves and each other, I think the ideal will spread from generation to generation, keeping everyone’s little corner of the world a better place.
What do you think is the best value to teach?
Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.
Dee
Burning Bridges by Anne Krist: old letters put the lie to Sara’s life. Now, mending her past mistakes while crossing burning bridges will be the hardest thing she’s ever done.