by Maiden Fair(KDW)

1. Love your child with unconditional love - don't tie strings to your love - love no matter what.

2. Discipline your child, he needs rules, limits and the knowledge that they will be enforced.

3. Don't try to 'buy' your child's love, you will only teach him that love has a price tag, there is no price tag to love.

4. Teach your child to work, if he doesn't learn the value of a job well done as a child, he will fail in life.

5. Teach your child to make decision by allowing him to choose what he wants from an acceptable set of offerings.

6. Teach your child to be responsible by giving him responsibilities geared to his age and abilities, but don't underestimate him.

7. Encourage your child - tell him he is doing well when he does well, commend him when he improves, and never ever put him down or belittle him either in public or in private.

8. Talk to your child - he learns good communication skills from the adults in his life, not from his peers.

9. Read to your child - he learns to appreciate the value of reading and learning only when he realizes what treasures are buried there to be discovered.

10. Value your child for himself, for who he is, so he will learn to value himself and other.

11th Commandment. But the most important of all. Teach your child about God, Teach him to love God, teach him what Jesus did for him personally by dying on the cross for his salvation, and take him to Church and sit with him so he can learn reverence and worship with you.

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse.

For my grandchildren, I'd like better. I'd really like for them to know about hand-me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meatloaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your bed and mow the lawn and wash the car. And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely. On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your 'driver' to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one. I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what Ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it.

And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend. I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your Mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through a neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.