What are you teaching your kids?

There are certain things I hope my children learn from me ~ like a deep love for God and a constant appreciation for the everyday blessings. Those kinds of things.

But I now realize there are other things I have passed on unaware.

Take my youngest, Sara. I think I inadvertently taught her to guffaw.

Gracious.

If I was thoughtful, I would have passed along a sweet, feminine giggle. But, no. This is what she gets.

And my older daughter, Emily.

Pure theatrics, that’s what. And no doubt, a face that will show for it. My dermatologist calls them ‘expression lines.’ My friend calls them ‘smile wrinkles.’

Looking at these pictures, I realized that all the careful parenting in the world doesn’t speak quite as loudly as what seeps out naturally.

So, yes. I am a person that likes to laugh. And I’m actually glad for my kids to know that side of me but there are other things that aren’t quite as funny.

Like my tendency to freak out at the first sign of an unexpected ’emergency.’ (Hence, why they call their dad before me when the car breaks down or they get a speeding ticket.) Or my hyper caution in areas that require great faith.

Those things aren’t cute. And I don’t want to pass along that kind of baggage. So every day, I wake up and pray. I ask God to create a new heart in me. The kind that I know God wants and the kind that I know my kids need.

My character, as well as my laugh, is contagious. And I don’t want to pass along something that is truly more unattractive than that guffaw. ;)

What have you passed along to your kids? Funny or not so funny …

Need more parenting thoughts, you might like this. Or even this.