What's the most important lesson you learned from being a parent?

To cherish every single moment--including the not so pleasant ones. There's no way to gain any moment back, and the not so pleasant moments become learning experiences for the future.

To condense years of motherhood into a single sentenace..........No one has jugded me more harshly than my own children have. To be fair, they are the ones to have seen the worst of me.

That what goes around surely comes around. Haha! I now fully understand what my mother went through, god bless her.

The most important lesson I have learned from being a parent is that it's a never ending educational experience. My oldest is 8 and I know that I have come a long way since then and continue to strive to be a better parent for my children.

To let go of some of mine preconceived notions of what perfect this or that is. Sometimes life and kids dictate different scenarios and outcomes than I would have chosen and that's better. Being in control always is impossible.

I would have to say humility. In some cases when I've lost my patience, I've made bad decisions. A parent should never be above an apology or an admittance of doing something wrong.It doesn't make us weaker.

It makes us more accessible to our children on an emotional level.

That it's okay to admit to your child that you were wrong. Being a single parent meant that I had to be strong and that I had to have all the answers....or so I thought. I'll never forget the look on my son's face the day I said "I'm so sorry, I was wrong.

Please forgive me. " It taught me that it's okay to make mistakes and to take ownership of those mistakes. It changed my life...and my son's.

That you must allow your children to make their own mistakes and that you cannot rectify those mistakes, it is part of maturing and must be allowed to occur as it will.

With each child (3) I have learned what to know what to be upset over and what not to stress over. There is a truth to the saying that the oldest always had it worse then the rest. Unfortunately the saying off of My Wife and Kids "the first pancake is the worst" has a lot of meaning.No, your child is not the worst, however it is your learning tool per say.

We learn with our first child how important things are and we stress out wanting them to be the best and at the same time prove to our parents and family that we are good parents. Alot of things my oldest got into trouble with I have let go with the youngest. I am a lot more relaxed when I have chosen not to sweat the small things making life a pleasure for everyone.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.