“I hope your children treat you the same way you treat us, then you will understand,” is something many parents say to their kids. As a kid I thought to myself, “I hope so too.” I knew that I was the best example of what it is to be the perfect son. Unlike my parents I had a complete understanding of how the world worked and the appropriate behavior for said world. I was rarely wrong and when I was wrong the cause rested solely on the actions of my sister or my parents. When raising my kids I dreamed that they too would be perfect like me because I only did wrong when my parents and sister caused me to do wrong. I came the conclusion that I, as a perfect kid, would become a perfect parent and therefore could not cause my kids to do wrong. Also, I as a perfect parent, could not raise children in a way that could cause their siblings to do wrong.

(more…)