Your Kids Saw You at Your Best and Worst
Parenting is a tough business, and every day we are doing things that shape our kids' impression of us. At some point, every parent starts to think about their legacy and how their kids will remember them. The hope is they remember how you came to every soccer game, and not the time you forgot their birthday. Here are 20 things you want your kids to remember about you.
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1. Unconditional Love
We all want our kids to remember how much we loved them and how that love filled our homes. We hope they remember that we loved them through their flaws, failures, and mistakes.
2. Our Unwavering Belief
We want our kids to know that we believed in them before there was really anything to believe in. We believed they could walk before they could even roll onto their stomachs. We believed they could be a doctor when they still needed us to fix their boo-boos.
3. We Laughed Often
Parents want their kids to remember the good times. How often we laughed and had fun, and how the home was a happy place filled with pleasant memories.
4. We Put Family First
No matter how hard we worked to put food on the table, we want our parenting legacy to reflect the time we spent as a family. We hope our kids noticed our hard work, but also that we put our family first, and were present at every school concert, field trip, and birthday party.
5. We Tried Our Best
No parent is perfect, but it's important that our kids recognize that we always tried our best. Even during the hardest days, we were there for our kids, and the hope is that those memories will stick with them through adulthood.
6. We Were Honest
Every parent has to lie to their kids. Whether it's getting them excited about Santa or the Easter Bunny, we have to deceive them to preserve their childhood. That said, we want our kids to remember that we valued honesty, despite the little white lies that come with parenting.
7. We Were Present
It doesn't matter if it was a big milestone or a quiet moment; we want our parenting legacy to be built around how present we were in our kids' lives. We stood on the sidelines of a game or sat in the stands at a graduation. We hope our presence in their lives left an impression.
8. We Pushed Their Curiosity
From playing with Play-Doh to building Lego sets, we encouraged our kids to create and push their imaginations to new limits. This helped shape their personalities and lives, and hopefully, they remember every time we invested in making them explore their curiosity.
9. How We Treated Others
Kids are always watching and paying attention, even when we think they're not. They witness so many of our interactions with other people, and we want our kids to remember how we were kind and understanding, and didn't yell at servers.
10. Fun Moments
Most parents go out of their way to create fun memories with their kids. We take them to movies, sporting events, playgrounds, and on vacations. We are doing these things so they can have fun, but there's also the thought that they will keep the memory of this fun moment or event forever.
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11. Our Gratitude
Part of our legacy should be how we appreciate what we had, even if we didn't have that much. Gratitude is an important thing to teach our children, and if we do it well, they should remember that we were grateful for our family, home, health, and lives.
12. We Apologized
It's important for parents to admit to their kids when they do something wrong. If we show that we're human beings who make mistakes, our kids will remember our honesty and ability to admit fault.
13. We Made Them Feel Safe
The way we made our kids feel safe is something that we hope sticks with them. We created safe homes that offered a sense of security. This helped our kids be themselves and feel safe enough to eventually leave home and go out into the world.
14. Our Traditions
Our Christmas mornings, Thanksgiving dinners, birthday celebrations, or even just Friday movie nights, are all traditions that we want our kids to remember. These were happy times, and when our kids think about us, we hope they remember our fun traditions and carry them on with their kids.
15. Our Passions
We want our kids to remember us as more than just parents. We want them to think about how we were passionate about other things, and maybe passed a little bit of that passion onto them in some way.
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16. We Tried to Be Kind
Life can be hard and stressful. While we didn't always succeed, we hope that our kids noticed that we always put kindness first.
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17. Our Creativity
Parenting can be a daily grind. Still, we want our kids to remember that we were also creative beings. Even if it was just making fun-shaped pancakes, we tried to add personality and color to everyday life.
18. Our Humility
Hopefully, our kids remember that we were humble in life. We never let our egos run wild and stayed grounded at all times. The goal here is that your kids remember that you never thought you were better than anyone else.
19. We Cherished the Small Moments
Every day brings some small moment of joy. When our kids think back to their childhood, the hope is that they remember the small moments we shared with them.
20. The Risks We Took
There's a lesson for our kids in every risk we took. Whether it was professional, personal, or financial, we want our kids to remember that we were brave enough to take that leap.
