There's a lot of conversation today about raising empathetic, compassionate, accepting, graceful children. And I think that's fabulous. Who doesn't want those kinds of kids? But I think what's more realistic is to say, I'd like to raise an adult who embodies a selfless, grateful, cooperative, compassionate, empathetic human being. Kids are not going to demonstrate those kinds of qualities at young ages. They just have too many other things they're trying to learn how to do, like tie shoes, and not pull their brother's hair when he knocks over the Legos, and how to get mom to help with homework, and is Johnny going to call me tonight, to really be concerned about those huge character traits. But if it's on your radar as a parent, the best thing you can do is embody those traits yourself, to live those traits even when you'd rather have a temper tantrum or scream at the kids, to really look at your own life and say, how often do I act in unselfish ways? How often do I show compassion when I'm stressed out? How often do I walk away from a potential fight even when I'd really like to take the other person down? If you model that, if that's part of who you are, your kids are naturally going to gravitate toward those character traits. And over time, you will see them emerge more and more time and for longer and longer periods. But the real goal is to send an 18 year old out into the world who is well on their way to becoming one of those amazing human beings.