Picking Important Things to Pass Down

 

A loaf of bread (Challah) that we made this week.

We all have things we want to impart to our children — ideas, skills, feelings, values. Sometimes it’s something our parents taught us (or the opposite of something our parents taught us). Sometimes it’s something we’ve picked up on our own as we grew up.

Different people pick different things. And that’s okay. I’m going to share a few of mine. I’d love to hear about yours in the comments!!!

My primary thing I want to pass down is knowing God, having a good relationship with Him, and knowing how to apply His instructions to your life.

But I also value things like: 

• spending time outside
• Understanding animals
• Being kind
• Solving problems, and seeing obstacles as challenges with solutions
• Taking time to understand how things work
• Enjoying and experiencing your emotions without having them rule you
• Developing empathy (without letting every sad person drag you down with them)
• Finding the positive in every situation
• Learning. Studying. Researching. Experimenting.
• Treating people and animals and plants and all Creation with respect
• Being responsible, reliable, trustworthy.
• Building strength, flexibility, balance, spatial skills, and awareness.
• Cultivating joy in yourself and in others
• How to take care of your spirit, soul, and body 
• Life skills (cooking, cleaning, laundry, home maintenance, car maintenance, money management, job skills)
• Knowing how to play with others AND knowing how to play alone
• Wisdom and common sense
• Defending the weak

And that’s just for starters, lol. 

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be talking more about these topics and how I hope to cultivate them in my toddler.

But today, I want to know: what topics are you hoping to instill in your children?