Rules of Life, The, 4th Edition

RULE 86

Your role as a parent

Gosh, this is a tough one. You have a role and it is important, but how do we define it, make it real for you, so that you can live by it, put it into practice?

Steve Biddulph, who wrote Raising Boys^* and other books about parenting, said in a recent newspaper interview that our job, as parents, is to keep our children alive until they are old enough to get help for themselves . . .

If you are crazy enough to take on the role of parent, then you are signing an invisible contract with your children to give and get them the very best of everything you can. And I don’t necessarily mean material possessions. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to be all that the very best parenting requires. You will ...