How do you raise kids to have compassion and respect? How do you raise kids who can think creatively and independently? How do you raise kids to value self-reliance and also to value interactions with others? How do you raise kids who will someday grow up to be responsible and mature enough to raise their own kids (or to decide not to have kids, of course)?

I don’t know. Nobody really does. When I look around at the kids I knew growing up and their parents and how they all turned out, I think the most likely answer is:

BY EXAMPLE.

So, I guess the real goal is to be conscious and deliberate in my own actions, knowing that they are being watched and will someday be reflected in my children.

Children, I often think, are our Dorian Gray’s Mirror.