The Myth of 'Everything I Never Had' | What Our Children Really Need

0:00 There is a myth out there that most of us have this goal to give our children everything that we never had. Okay, that we should somehow make their lives so much better than ours. Somehow give them more money, more more stability, more opportunities. Okay, all of that it's it comes from a good place. It's good. It's fine. There is certainly generally, you know, upward mobility throughout the generations. The whole entire world has become richer and richer and and more and more healthy and less and less wars.

0:29 despite this current moment. But in general, things have gotten better for humanity and that's good and we want to continue that trajectory. With that said, being a leader means going first. And what that means is you can't give what you don't have. Okay? So, if you want your child to develop resilience or confidence or great social skills or academic rigor or whatever goals you might have, physical health, etc., etc., I think the most profound leadership role of parenting is the role of modeling. It's the role of trying it out on yourself. The leader is the one that's willing to jump into the water to test it first. The leader is the one to say, "Here, I'll show you how it's done.

1:19 I'll do it once, then you copy me." And I think many of us hold these ideas of something we might be able to give our children be it physical, emotional, spiritual, whatever that we have not developed. And many of us are sacrificing ourselves. And I believe in a certain level of sacrifice that's inherent in parenting. Okay? I'm not going to say that that's a bad thing. But sacrificing say our self-development, our interests, our passions, uh our health at the altar of our child.