Our example, our growth and accepting responsibility for our mistakes speak volumes to our kids.

No judgment here, we are all doing our best. Try to get down on their level, eye to eye and listen and help them find the words for expressing what they're feeling. You got this!

Hopefully no one sets the dog on fire, but accepting responsibility for our mistakes is an important less.

We can model gratitude in both big and small ways. The best thing to teach gratitude is to be a truly grateful person. This requires us to consistently focus on what is good around us. There are days (or weeks or months) this can be a challenge. However, research shows gratitude to be a significant factor in overall life satisfaction and lowers symptoms of anxiety and depression. If you're already a powerful appreciator, how does that impact your parenting? If this is an area of growth for you, you might try a daily gratitude practice (diary, write thank you notes etc.). Parenting is a great way for us to be motivated to become people we really like and respect.

I rarely complain, that's not the one that gets me. I compare at times, but infrequently. However, I do catch myself criticizing myself and others. Criticism can and does steal my joy. I'm now on guard to squash such thoughts and protect my joy.