There are several versions of "What I've Learned" flying around the Internet. We offer a few examples of them here at BBHQ from time to time. Today I'd like to offer some examples of what I think we will learn, as we approach maturity and recover from the hangover of our selfish youth: There is no such thing as quality time; there is only... time. Telling our kids that we used drugs when we were their age (and we all did use them, didn't we???*) is not the right way to discourage them from using drugs. Some things that some of us did in our youth... in some cases, many things... should remain untold.

Our kids are always our kids; they are not our friends.

Character does matter... in our president, our celebrities, our mayor, our high school principal, our friends, our family. The people we elevate to that status says a great deal about who we are. When we have no respect for our elected leaders, we have no respect for ourselves; and our entire society suffers as a result.

You do not choose to be a role model. It chooses you.

Paying close attention to what goes into our kids eyes and ears is just as important as paying close attention to what goes in their mouths. Some things that have no negative effect on us may affect some kids enormously. That is because we are adults and they are kids.

Setting a good example is the most important thing we can do to teach our kids how to conduct their lives. Setting a good example is a thousand little things, day after day, every day.

Few kids ever grow up and say, "Gee, I wish my parents had expected less of me."

Kids are kids; youth is precious. We should not be in a hurry to have them grow up.

Kids naturally rebel against authority; that is part of growing up. But that does not mean that we should yield to that rebellion just because it seems easier at the time. That is part of the responsibility being an adult.

Raising our kids is the most important thing we will ever do. Every time we delegate some of that responsibility to a day care center, a baby sitter, a relative, a school, a computer, a television, or a government... we lose some ability to shape the content of their character. If we care about our kids, we should fervently guard and retain as much of that responsibility as we can.

Kids need input and guidance from both parents... a mother and a father. No government program and no amount of money can adequately compensate for the absence of a father or mother.

All the gun control laws, metal detectors, warning labels, regulations, police, inspections, and curfews in the world cannot make up for a failure in parenting. Every time we ask for another law to control some aspect of our kids' lives, we are acknowledging a failure in parenting. Much as we say "you can't go back," and "things were so much simpler then," our parents' generation had a lot of the right answers to today's moral and social problems. You cannot change the past; but it is never too late to do the right thing.

^*It's sarcasm. NO, we did NOT all use drugs.

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