To All Parents Spend time with your children. Years from now, it won't matter what kind of car you drive, or what kind of house you live in, or how much money you have in the bank. What WILL count is the time and love you invest in your children. Let this credo be your guide: Cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'til tomorrow, Cuz children grow up, as we've learned to our sorrow. So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep. I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep. Children Learn What They Live If a child lives with criticism, He learns to Condemn. If a child lives with hostility, He learns to fight. If a child lives with ridicule, He learns to be shy. If a child lives with shame, He learns to feel guilty. If a child lives with tolerance, He learns confidence. If a child lives with praise, He learns to appreciate. If a child lives with fairness, He learns justice. If a child lives with security, He learns to have faith. If a child lives with approval, He learns to like himself. If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, He learns to find love in the world. Checklist for Parents Do I think of my children as people who have a right to my respect? Do I make them feel stupid, inadequate or bad? Do I humiliate them in front of others? Or do I correct them privately, allowing them to maintain their dignity? Am I courteous to my child? Do I habitually yell? Threaten? Nag? How do I correct my children? Do I attack their character? Call them names? Lose my self-control? Hit them? Make sarcastic remarks? Ridicule them? Do I jump to conclusions, expecting the worst? Or do I give them a chance to tell their side? Do I make a big issue over small things? Do I have the same reaction to major problems as I do to small ones? Do I let my children know they are improtant? How do I treat the things they make? Do I apologize when I am wrong? Do I set limits on behavior and enforce them? Do I show my children affection and tell them I love them? Taken from Al-Anon pamphlet "How Can I help my Children"