To help my children make the right choices, I want them to remember this one phrase

As a parent, there are so many things that we want to teach our kids, that we need to teach them, and should teach them. From helping them learn to walk and talk, to saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you,’ to being helpful, caring and kind to others—the list goes on. But I’ve decided out of everything I want and need to teach my kids, there is one thing I want my children to learn and live by the most.

How I decided on this came to me in the strangest of ways, a TV show. I was watching the show Sense 8 on Netflix and while it’s laden with risqué and violent scenes (although a great storyline to follow), there was a line to a character that stood out. It stopped me in my tracks and I thought, “that’s what I want for my kids. That’s what I want them to learn and live by.”

“Whatever you do child, do not let it be at the cost of your beautiful heart.”

If this quote doesn’t tug at your own heartstrings and make you think twice about all of your own decisions and possible life compromises, then I don’t know what will. It’s a simple statement, and yet there is so much power behind it.

As our children grow, they are going to be given a whole world in which they will have to make the right choices. They will at times make poor choices and it’s unrealistic not to think so. But what this quote says to me (and what I want my children to learn from it), is that even though you will make poor decisions in life you do not need to make choices that are going to cost you more than the love and goodness you have in your heart.

There is a big difference in making poor decisions that you learn from, and poor decisions that change you, and change all the good you are capable of.

I want my children to know it is possible to make poor decisions that take away a part of them that they cannot get back, that they cannot fully reconcile, and that may cost them their beautiful heart.

I cannot speak as to what types of decisions those are specifically, but I know that as my children grow and learn to face the challenges and struggles of this world, that I want them to always stop and think about their heart. I want them to stop and think about the good in them, and all the positive things they are capable of sharing, even when this may not be as apparent or clear to them.

I want my children to know that their own heart is beautiful and has been from the beginning and no decision out there is worth compromising the good they have and the beauty of the person they are inside and out.

I’m not saying this is going to be an easy lesson to teach my children and it certainly is a challenge to any parent. But I feel like it is worth every effort to make this one of the most important lessons, if not the most important lesson, in their lives.

We need to be able to live with ourselves, with the choices we make, with the things we do TO and FOR others. Making choices that cause severe harm and hurt to ourselves and others will cost us our beautiful hearts, and sometimes these choices are made in the blink of an eye.

This simple TV quote couldn’t be more relevant in a world today that’s becoming more rampant with bullying and hate. But I believe we are born with natural goodness and love in our hearts, and as long as it is fostered and nourished from childhood to adulthood it will remain, and our hearts will stay beautiful.

This is my greatest wish for my children. I want them to be happy, I want them to be loved, I want them to be kind, but most of all I want their beautiful hearts to ALWAYS stay beautiful.

Originally posted on World’s Average Mom.

You might also like:

• Our kids are watching—let’s teach them how to love who they are
• 6 phrases that turn your child’s mistakes into positive teaching moments
• 7 important ways to teach your kids to be empathetic and assertive