One of the biggest things I feared before becoming a mom was how to handle my kids’ teenage years.

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My years from junior high and high school should have been filled with the excitement of being a teen. Instead I felt ugly, insecure, and frustrated with life in general. My parents were wonderful in sticking with me during those turbulent years, but looking back gave me more of a sense of doom in my ability to parent a teenager.

As moms, we have so many choices every day of how to spend our time: taking care of children, running errands, doing something for our husbands, cleaning house, going to appointments, preparing meals—the list seems endless.

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And that list doesn’t include doing something specifically for yourself, or spending time just having fun with your children! Both of these items, though often forgotten, are at least as important as the ones on the first list!

No man feels equipped when he first becomes a dad. The sense of responsibility is almost overwhelming the first time a dad holds his first born child. Hopefully, he accepts that responsibility with a no-turning-back resolve.

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But, the success of a father depends on how actively he seeks to learn. For me, the best overview of my responsibility as a dad was found in a 2,000 year-old letter to some folks in ancient Turkey.

The world could use more courtesy and respect towards others. But those things are in lower supply today than ever. The reason: it’s not being modeled and trained to kids at home like it had at one time.

Courtesy 123RF/Anna Bizoń

I’ve written about how training our kids in simple habits such as greeting another goes a long way in cultivating courtesy and respect for others. Another underestimated social courtesy is that of using proper titles.