Let’s be clear about our kids and their mistakes. There aren’t too many kids who get up in morning, rub their hands together and say, I wonder how I can screw up today and really bother my dad! Kids don’t enjoy or want to make mistakes, it’s just one of ways that they learn about world.

Kids usually try to do their best; but they’re doing their best considering resources they have at time. Sometimes they’re tired, sometimes they’re easily distracted, and sometimes they’re strong-willed, but they generally do best they can. It’s quite easy for us to unfairly judge them according to their best efforts in past.

When our kids make mistakes, we have choices to make. Fathers can either make choices that help to create kids who are defensive and who lie to them …or they can make choices that help to create kids who can learn from their mistakes and improve upon them.

Perhaps popular culture will take over…or perhaps they just won’t care. The fear is there because it’s so important to me that my children have a moral compass to live by, and that they have a value system that honors and respects others.

So what are fathers to do? We live in an increasingly complex society and answers to our children’s questions are neither easy nor simple. Many of these questions may be difficult to answer and may show your kids that ideas about what’s right and wrong are not always very clear.

What fathers can do is to wish and hope that things turn out for your children--or you can have courage to make passing on your values an absolute priority in your family. You can challenge yourself to pass on love, faith, courage, freedom--the eternal truths that will have meaning for your children for generations to come.

There will certainly be some bumps along way and it won’t always be a smooth ride. After all, there’s an entire culture out there that’s telling your kids that what they wear and what they buy is most important thing in their life.

There’s a way for fathers to succeed here. They can do it through stories that they tell their kids and also through how they models for their kids.

You can start by taking a different and closer look at daily events that happen in your life. Your life is filled with significant happenings that you can sometimes pass over if you’re not paying attention or if you get too busy. These events can become stories that your children will cherish.

Why is it important to tell your stories to your children?

One important reason is that it serves to connect your children to previous generations and to help them to feel a part of larger whole of your family. Perhaps a more important reason is that telling your children your stories helps them to deal with difficult challenges that they’ll be facing in their life.

The truth is that your kids will go through some real struggles. As parents, it can be painful to watch--and it is seldom useful to try to come to rescue. What can be helpful to your kids is to know that their father, and other significant people in their lives, have gone through similar struggles and have survived.