Lessons Learned After College - #5

Lessons Learned After College - #5:
Children are the product of their parents--not their friends or teachers. 

I am by no means an expert on parenting--after all, I don't have any children of my own, so it would be presumptuous to even think I have a little wisdom to offer on this topic. However, looking at life from my perspective, I know that after cycling through many teachers and friends over the years, my parents are the people I have been influenced by the most. If you think about it, most parents spend more hours, weeks, and years with their children than any other person in their life. Even though friends greatly influence behaviors, I believe children will eventually turn out to be pretty similar to their mom or dad--whether that's good or bad. Don't get me wrong, there are many exceptions to my theory, but for the most part, adults behave in specific ways simply because that's how their parents did it.

Think about it: Children mimic parents. Parents who read tend to have children who like reading. Parents who eat healthy are more likely to have children who eat well. On the flip side of things, children of alcoholics usually grow up to be alcoholics. Children who have been abused are more likely to be abusers as adults. Children of divorced parents are more likely to get divorced themselves. Children of smokers are more likely to smoke. Here is an interesting statistic--Only 2 percent of smokers have parents who don't smoke, according to the Mayo Clinic! That means the vast majority of smokers smoke simply because it's always been "normal" behavior to them.

Marriage has opened my eyes to this because even though Luke and I were raised very similarly, there are still times when we challenge each other by asking, "Why do you do it that way?" Usually, the answer is something along the lines of, "I don't know. That's what my parents always did growing up. I just assumed it was normal!" Sometimes it's comical. For example, do you call it a grilled cheese sandwich or a cheese toastie?

You can probably think of many ways you are like your parents and some ways you're not. For me, I'm just glad that the good highly outweighs the bad. I'm so thankful to have parents who cared enough to set a good example.

Merry Christmas!!

Check back for tomorrow's lesson: The Importance of Mentors & Role Models