Raising children, here are the most important keys for this endeavour

What are the crucially important things to raising raising children into adults that will have good self esteem and be mentally strong?

Here are a few important things to remember:

Remember that you are raising not just crying, finicky babies or stubborn teenagers, you are raising the very people that are going to be in charge of the world in 30 years. It’s a great responsibility and privilege, you only get one chance at doing it right.

If you have kids 1- 10 years:

Your child thinks of you as the Superhero that protects and keeps evil away from them -- don't disappoint

If they tell you there is a ghost under the bed, get your Ghostbuster suit on, chase it away, and then reassure them that you made it go away so they can sleep soundly, you know ghosts are imaginary, but to your small child they are as real as the hands on the end of your arms. Act accordingly to their world at that time.

By the way, Teddy Bears, and stuffed animals are real to them as well.http://www.creativechild.com/articles/view/5-educational-benefits-of-stuffed-animal-toys If they let you hold their Teddy for a while it is the equivalent of someone gifting you something great, cherish and respect the moment accordingly.

Never, Never, Never, Never betray their trust! If you say you going to do something, turn the earth up-side-down to keep your word.

compliment them on every achievements. Keep the criticism to yourself.

let your kid help you doing stuff around the house. Yes, it will take 5x longer, and you'll have to clean up after them, but the life lessons and bonding opportunity for both of you is priceless! Remember, it's not about free maid service or quicker process, it's about Life!

For kids above 10 years of age:

Teach by example, not by word. They are too smart not to see that you are a hypocrite!

Imagine that you have 1 year to live, and in this time you have to equip your child with all the life skills in knowledge to make him/her a successful human being for the rest of their life. You would not waste your time acting like an obnoxious jerk in front of the waiter, who will politely smile in your face and have someone spit in your food when you send it back to the kitchen for the 3rd time. You would not belittle your spouse, because that will teach your kid that it's ok to be belittled by their spouse. Don't waste time teaching the wrong stuff no matter if you have one year, or 50 more years to go.

Mothers, bestow your knowledge upon your daughters so their life will be easier. If you don't teach them to add salt to cooking pasta, Martha Stuart will gladly take over and make them feel like failures.

Fathers, you have a special role in raising your children: praise your son, don't compete with him, don't try to push him down so-to-speak, to criticize him, never approve of him, refuse to praise him, never be satisfied with him, until your son folds psychologically. Some men are 40, 50, 60, have success, education, and still feel like s...t because their fathers don't approve of them! It is in your power to raise him to be a good man, don't miss the chance, because of your own insecurities.

If you don't show him that nails should be hammered in at 90*, he'll be the laughing stock of his peers for the next 20 years, because of you! If you don't teach him how to ride a bike at 5 years old, he'll not know how to ride it at 50. And he'll hide this secret in shame all his life - because of you!

Fathers, treat your daughters right! A father is a girl's first example of how a man, a future spouse should be and act towards her, so when she grows up she'll search out a man who'll treat her just as the father treated her, because that will be her normal, her base point, her idea of a man. If the father makes empty promises, leaves for months at a time, where she waits for him endlessly, but he doesn't show up, expects her to be all right with that kind of mistreatment, or better yet, expects her to welcome him after long absences with a smile, tears of happiness and hug around his neck. Guess what- you don't give a damn, because it's all about you, your time, your life.

When your daughter grows up she'll find herself a man that will give her scraps from his table, leftover time, no attention, she'll spend long periods of time without him, endlessly and patiently wait for him, even when he's home he'll give her no attention because she'll never be #1 in his book, like she never was in yours, but will be expected to love him and cherish him even when he treats her as less than. Treat her like a Princess, show her that a man respects a woman, opens doors for her, cherishes her.

You only get one chance at this parenting thing, do it wisely, because when you fail at it, you have failed for life. Not just your child's life, but future generation as well. Realize how much is riding on that one test in your life, and do all you can not to score lower than an A. There are no redo'es on that one!

Most important: don’t carry over to the next generation things that you noticed as nor beneficial in your own growing up process. Examine your own upbringing, if there were some generational failings, make sure these end with you, don't pass it down to your child. It's in your power, use it.

Always keep the larger picture in mind, instead of focusing all your attention on just one undesirable behavior.

You’re on a very important mission for the future of the world.