THE 13th tip in the 31 days to becoming a better dad is to learn from your childhood.

All too often, I hear parents say they raise their kids the way they were raised because that's how it is. I disagree. If we aren't learning from our childhood and correcting the things we felt were wrong as we raise our kids, we are failing ourselves and our kids.

The value of going through your childhood is twofold. First, it allows you to gain the experience needed to be a man. But second, it allows us to raise our kids how we felt we should have been raised. To give them the things we were denied and to allow them as much opportunity as possible to live a better life than we do.

I was told over and over by my step-father that I would punish my kids as fiercely as he punished my brother and I, and I can remember saying time and time again, "No I Won't".
So far I haven't, but I have told him many times how greatful I am that he raised me.

Doing things different isn't meant to be a slight at our parents, they did the best they could. But it's up to each and every father to decide for himself if doing things the same is good enough. For me, it wasn't.

DAD TALK