Promise to my posterity

I know that this will be corny in the extreme for anyone reading it, I have to put it out there because (as I've explained before) this is more my personal journal than anything else. I have two parents and two stepparents. They all have their positive and negative traits, but from them I've learned a couple of things and made a few decisions so that, hopefully, my parenting will begin an "evolution" for my posterity; that is, that the parenting will improve as the generations pass. Here we go:

I will not be critical. I can give guidance, advice, and plain old commands to my underage children, but after they're adults, the criticism or advice won't be given unless asked for, and then only given in love.

My love for my children will be - and must be - totally unconditional. If I can't do that, how can I be a Christlike parent to my children?

I will parent using love unfeigned, gentleness, and persuasion rather than coercion, guilt, or mental abuse.

Easy, right? Ha ha. The thing is, our own neuroses can come out in our children. Not a problem if, like most of you, you have no neuroses, but for me (I'm loaded with them!) it's more difficult. I am constantly trying to meet my mother's impossibly high standards and you know what? WHO CARES what her standards are, or my students' parents, or my friends or other family members? If I am living the PRINCIPLES of the gospel it really does not matter what the PRACTICES are. That's the beautiful thing about it - we don't have to live the gospel in exactly the same way as long as we are living the gospel.

I hope we've all had enough pontificating.

"Lose your dreams and you will lose your mind. Ain't life unkind?"