Leaving a Legacy: A Part Of You

In our series about leaving something for your children, we started with the foundation of finances.

Now that we have covered a few basic things as far as finances go we would like to start moving on. Today we would like to talk about what your children will remember and how they will live their lives based off of what they learned from you.

We are talking about the example of your actions, not just your words.

We're sure that you've heard the saying that actions speak louder than words, well if you have kids then you know better than most how true this is. We tell our kids to do this and not to do that but if they see us doing that and this, maybe not now, but at some point they will be doing that and this (what a tongue twister!). We have to remember that whether or not we wanted to become parents that once we did, we have a sacred responsibility to do what's right for them by putting them first.

We've got to be honest, this is hard. Human nature tells us to live for ourselves and do what we want to do, not put others first. We have to fight human nature and tell it to shut up, our kids come first. So if you want to do that certain thing that you know will be a bad example for your kids, then you have to say no and be a good example for them. Your kids are part of your legacy, if you have a bunch of gremlins, then when you're gone that's what you'll have left.

Here are a few tips to help you leave a part of you:

• If you don't want your kids doing it, don't do it yourself

This is pretty obvious based off of what we talked about in the opening of this post, the thing you have to watch out for is that even when you think your kids aren't watching, they're seeing everything. Have you ever had it when you thought you said something in private only to find out that your kids already know about it? Happens all the time, you never know when they're watching.

• Always try to teach them the "why" of what you're doing

Our human nature is always focused on the what and how, if you teach them the "why" they understand and follow the lessons. If you say you don't smoke and don't want them to smoke, show them why smoking is bad. Pretty simple, right?

• Always think about the long term affects, not just the here and now

It's so easy just to look and think about what's right in front of us but we have to look at the bigger picture. Short term gains could lead to long term harm, it's not worth it.

Like we said, it's hard to not always do what you want to do but the end result will be worth it. What kind of life do you want to lead? A life of pleasure now and teaching your children about that kind of life? They need you to lead them, teach them right and wrong by the example of how you live your life.

Any tips you would like to share? You can share them with all of us in the comments: