When I grow up I want to be just like you!

Like it or not if you are a parent you are a role model.

It may not seem like it sometimes but your children look up to you. My children look up to me. It's a huge responsibility. I'm not even anyone special; I don't save lives for a living, I haven't written anything outstanding, I haven't discovered anything groundbreaking... but wait .....

I have helped create two amazing boys, boys who are fast becoming men, men who I hope have learned, from me and their father, to be respectful and caring, upright and honest, curious and enquiring.

I hope they have learned that EVERY person they meet can teach them something and that maybe they too have something they can teach that person. That EVERY person they meet is as important as they are.

I hope they have learned to clean up after themselves, to treat the world where ever they are as if it were their own home and to leave enough for someone else even if it looks as if they are the last person to use it, eat it,drink it, need it.

I hope they have learned that their bodies are their temples and as such they deserve the greatest respect and that their neighbours and friends, mates and strangers have temples too which are just as valuable and as valued as their own.

I hope they have learned that it is not what you have in life but who you have that makes you rich.

I hope they have learned that maturity has more to do with the kinds of experiences you have had, and what you have learned from them. Not with how many birthdays you have had or the number of framed diplomas on your wall.


And I hope they have learned that we are all responsible for our own actions even if we were drunk or angry, tempted or pressured, pushed or coerced. I hope they have learned that people make mistakes and that forgiveness is important even if it's yourself you need to forgive.






I hope they know that I'm still learning too and that they are my teachers and that I am so proud of them and of the people they have become. My father once told me that you never really know if you have done a good job being a parent until you meet your children as adults and that it so true. I can't wait to see what else they have in store.