Things I Want My Girls To Learn

So I think this will be an ever evolving post. But it is a way for me to keep my thoughts together and help me remember my goal - raise good adults. So these are some things I want my girls to know and how I can start teaching them

1) Be self sufficient: this one isn't just about finances. It is also about being able to take care of yourself and future family. The value of hard work. The joy of learning. How to cook, clean, maintain your home/ the things you have. Basically, I need to start the girls on chores and need to push them more to clean up after themselves. And part of it is me taking a more pro-active role in doing the things that I don't want to do. And also talking to them about the importance of taking care of the things we already have. CHORES!!!!!

2) Take care of your body, you only have one. Eat healthy. Get plenty of exercise. Drink in moderation. Shower, brush your hair. Brush your teeth. I can do this by modeling my own habits a bit better and by enforcing their own personal hygene more. I don't mind if they don't brush their hair all the time. But I think it might teach a lack of self love? I don't want self-care to turn into vanity which is why I haven't really pushed it. However, self-care is super important to self-love. And if you don't love yourself, you can't really ever be happy. Part of my poor self-care is because I (probably) don't love myself enough, and the other part is that I'm not really that grateful. 

3) Treat people right - be kind: This is best done by modeling the behavior myself - both with people and with our animals. Talk about people in loving/kind ways. Show respect to the animals even when they are being naughty. Love your partner. 

4) Be Grateful: I feel like I am grateful to some extent in that I don't really expect much from life. But maybe that isn't really being grateful, it's just being accepting. Which is totally different than being grateful. Being grateful is to be thankful for what you have and not expecting anything out of life. 

5) Leave the earth better then when you entered it: so I guess this could go into the "treat people right" but I think that this is a bit bigger than that. It's about doing something bigger than yourself. Or maybe about helping create something that will live on after you are done/gone. Whether it is teaching or giving or helping. It's the understanding that you have been given so much that it's important to give to others who haven't been given as much. It doesn't always have to been financially based. It could be teaching a cooking class or writing a book or volunteering their time in a cause they are passionate about. It kinda goes along with being grateful too. But it is so much bigger. Showing kindness, compassion, and understanding.

6) Take responsibility for your actions: I'm not sure that this needs an explanation. It's extremely difficult to do, but is so important in basic character development.

There might be more things but this actually seems like a pretty comprehensive list of life's basic lessons. And most of the other "little things" can be lumped into these larger categories.