The BEST parenting book you will ever read

Two chapters from The Parent's Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for Modern Parents by William Martin

Chapter 22: Your Greatest Legacy

If you want your children to succeed,

show them how to fail.

If you want them to be happy,

show them how to be sad.

If you want them to be healthy,

show them how to be sick.

If you want them to have much,

show them how to enjoy little.

Parents who hide failure, deny loss,

and berate themselves for weakness,

have nothing to teach their children.

But parents who reveal themselves,

in all of their humanness,

become heroes.

For children look to these parents

and learn to love themselves.

~

Parenting need not be a burden,

one more thing you have to do

and don't do well enough.

Instead consider your failures,

your sorrows,

your illnesses,

and your difficulties

as your primary teaching opportunities.

Chapter 63: Face Your Problems

Face your problems

with your children

while the problems

are still small.

If you give your full attention,

without resentment,

your problems will become

no problem.

A problem is not an interruption

to a serene and happy life.

A problem is an ordinary part

of such a life.

Effort is not required.

If you pay calm attention,

solutions will appear naturally.

~

For years I was afraid

of my children's problems.

I had enough of my own.

I tried to solve their problems

by decree and pronouncement from on high.

So their problems grew and grew.

I was not present to myself.

How could I be present to them?

As I have grown older,

problems are no longer problems,

just life.

They needn't separate us

from our children.

Don't be afraid.