Prepare your children for the world

When we talk about loving our children, loving them means preparing them to stand on their own feet.

Out there in the real world, your children will have to pull their own weight and make their own way. If you set your standards for them low, they will achieve those low standards, and they won't grow. It is important for your children to learn self-sufficiency, develop high self-esteem and be motivated early on in life.

If you are constantly helping them with their daily chores, their homework or taking care of all their needs, you are in fact crippling them. It's not fair to them to enable them for most of their teenage years then all of a sudden just put them on the street so to speak. You have created the problem. There's got to be a plan. There's got to be a transition.

Make sure you are communicating with your children and sharing your mistakes and solutions with them. It is important to instill a sense of responsibility in them by giving them tasks to complete and foster independence by asking for their input.

Very important is to give them good financial skills. It is never too early to start, when they are in primary school give your children chores so that they can earn what they want, and teach them about saving.

All you can do as a parent is prepare your children to the best of your ability. Make sure you do not pressure them into living the life you wished you did, but instead give them the right tools to choose and create a good life for themselves.