What Is The Most Important Thing?

You know, you guys should write a book, a parenting book, a life book, because you’ve got so much wisdom to share with parents and non-parents alike. While we sit and patiently wait for that six figure publishing deal, here’s a blog post, 100% free of charge, that drips with brilliance about what is the most important thing we should all want our kids to know.

Mark Ferguson: It’s not PC, but my kids all learned how to knock a bully out. There is always someone willing to steal your milk money. I raise them to thrive in the world they live in, the real world. Not the world I wish they live in.

Caleb King: Never start a fight, but always be the one to finish it.
Defend those that are weaker, or more scared than them.
Never be afraid to speak their mind.
Stand up for what they believe in.
Be who they want to be, not who society thinks they should be.

Levi White: That their parents love them more than anything, being kind is more important than being right, sharing is SO much better than just having.

Colleen Justason: I will never be angry at them for telling the truth and being honest. I don’t want them to grow up and not trust me or feel like they can’t come to me with their problems.

Christy Cernech Whittington: That it’s okay to cry, show emotion and to sometimes just have a bad or sad day. Don’t bottle those feelings up!!!!

Mike Birtch: All animals, no matter their size or how different they look, deserve respect and compassion. This, of course, includes the human animal.

Stacey Wilsoncroft: Manners. Always say please and thank you.

Luke Benjamin James: That nothing gets handed to you on a silver platter, you want something you go out and earn it, that life’s tough but there are more people around you willing to help you back up than those trying to push you down.

Ryan Friedman: They need to know how build and use tools. How to raise and grow food and also where their food comes from. How to collect and clean water.. Basically kids need to learn survival basics and it’s our job as parents to make sure they can survive.

Billy Branchcomb: That being honest with me is the most important thing in our relationship. I will do the same for them.

Michael McCluskey: That being a kid is even more important than being an adult.

Robert Webb: To always give a courtesy wave to drivers when they stop to let you into traffic.

Finally, because this is Life of Dad and we can’t avoid being funny for too long, Trey Bowen knows what we all need to teach our kids, “That they have to wipe, flush AND wash their hands…. every time.”

What do you want your kid to know as they grow up?

*Flickr photo by Hirantha Perera, used under Creative Commons license.