Right now he was tired, and I was as well. We lay down together in his little bed and after a few moments he said, “Daddy, when I get big can I live with you?” I assured him he could live with me any time he wanted to.

A moment later he said, “Dad, when you die you’re going to feel something on your face and it will be me touching your face.” Then he added, “I will kiss you on your cheek.” He moved over, kissed me lightly on cheek and cuddled in next to me.

I was aware of tears suddenly welling up in my eyes and rolling down my cheeks. I was also aware that I didn’t want to have to explain why I was crying; as I opened my eyes to look at my son, I noticed he was fast asleep.

I spent some time just looking at him, savoring moment and wondering about depth of reaction I had just had. It occurred to me later that I didn’t remember having many of these kinds of tender moments with my own father. I felt both happy for a chance to experience it with my son, and saddened that I didn’t remember more of them with my own father.

It also occurred to me that this was a time in our lives that would be extremely short-lived. This time of innocence, and magical moments that make up a three-year-old’s life, would soon be gone forever.

What will remain, however, will be my memory of this moment that we had together. It was a moment that made all of difficult work of being a father worthwhile. It was a moment worth remembering.

Being a committed father can at times feel like an incredibly thankless and unending job. It can feel like you are no more than janitor, chauffeur, and handyman in house where you live. And then you will have “a moment.” A moment like this in which your child expresses absolute, pure, and unconditional love for you.

Isn’t it to prepare your kids to be happy, healthy, successful people in their own lives?

What’s best way to do this?

One effective method of preparing them for their own lives is to give them a heavy dose of word that not enough kids are getting today. That word is “N” word, or word no.

We all deal with a certain amount of frustration in our everyday adult lives. We are frustrated at our jobs, in our relationships, and by circumstances that we have no control over. Over time we learn to handle frustration better and to turn it into challenges and opportunities that we work through.

People who can handle frustration successfully tend to have happier and more successful lives. They learn to be resilient and to appreciate what they’ve accomplished and what they’ve received.

How about your kids?

Are your kids being frustrated enough? Are there high enough expectations being placed on them? Are you saying no enough and are you allowing them to have opportunities to be frustrated and to work through it?

There are a lot of kids today receiving boatloads of gifts and gadgets from their parents who aren’t being given many responsibilities within their families.

If you’re not allowing your kids to be exposed to responsibility and frustration, and if you’re not liberally giving out N word to them, you may be creating monsters within confines of your home.

Many parents have gone through hard times in their lives and naturally want to spare their children same fate that they experienced. They have a very difficult time seeing their children struggling and allowing them to deal with it.

The result of this choice is that many children today get almost everything they want in terms of clothes, electronic gadgets, toys etc. The amount of stuff they receive and new products that they want keep growing every year.

Try comparing what your children get in terms of their most wanted items to what you get in your life. Is it a close comparison?