And if like me, you found out that finally some years later, if you kept at through every rebellion and growth spurt and houseful of attitude, there will come a moment. You hear your child lecturing her friends about the junk they put into their bodies.



And you notice she looks more radiant and wholesome and healthy than they do, and you smile deeply and imagine how well based she is. Her healthy lifestyles are now better than yours, forty years later, and she rem And all those airplane trips from plate to mouth around mount Dad pay off. Well done. And they even all love you.

Good examples must be lived, not just lectured from a pulpit. And wonderful to realize that some of what you hear your kids say as if it is their original thought- and to them it is- something that decades earlier they had said yeah, yeah, dad, you do not know, things are different now.

Timeless values are eternal, and the more we get to our most healthy roots, the better. Spinach roots, cabbage roots, carrot roots, beet roots. Back to our roots, the wisdom of the ages, is in every spoon that goes into your Shirley Temple.

Let's see all our good ship lollipops have plenty of fruits and veggies aboard, and we make whatever silly actions necessary to grow our kids naturally, to whatever they may naturally best become. Enjoy the journey! I am drawn to how the ancient stories can be adapted to now, and I enjoy making appropriate to the moment some age old story.

Rare children's books tell these stories, all the way back to Dr. Seuss, my modern favorite. But then when wise King Phillip of Macedonia called Aristotle to meet and promise to teach his newborn son Alexander right from wrong, and love from hated, and wise contemplation rather than rash actions, and the deep questions he had recently discussed with legendary Socrates. So, from some time past, wise tutors have been out there, defining right for wrong. And so we should continue, whether we will wear ourselves out early with the massive energy needed to be Great.

Or, like most, with less fever, we can apply ourselves to at least be good and just. As Socrates told Aristotle, and he told Alexander, and, as you may have heard, his horse told me. America has more followed the gentle teaching of those Greek values.

Europe has tended to be like Rome and cane them into being better, more loving persons. Gentle understanding and deep reaches into the soul to understand that a life lived well and in fairness to others more likely ensures a better death and afterlife. No cane allowed, but you must be able. Sigh.

But when our little angels do well, you must remember to give rave attention to appropriate behavior. A great report card may deserve an update to the computer, and let your brainy hero have a budget, and see what she or he discovers. It will not break the bank, but it is a very effective way to have that brain studying away, and you are not giving a bribe- remember that always. You are rewarding great behavior, which makes more great behavior likely.

In contrast, if we gave a murderer a reward, we are mad; although we do that all the time. Best sellers by wrong doers should at least have the money go to the poor and the writer go to jail. Right the wrong. Our kids understand those issues while we over complicate even basic right from wrong.

Let us listen to that innocent loving child within, and by staying in touch with our children and then our grandchildren we can ensure we stay involved in helping the moral center stays in place as issues come and go.

And later you get to fondly recall with fondness all those efforts to eat a healthy lifestyles for all of us to set the good examples. And if you this so consistently, your grown daughters buy organic and fear you may not get it and you have to agree that may be so, compared to them.