Teach your children well!

My dad sent this.

It's something he wanted us to think about as we're about to have a baby...who even now can hear things outside the womb. While Baby M may not understand what we are saying, we want to set the right example early on because he or she will eventually copy our words and actions.

The message reminds me of how it was growing up in my own household. I remember, as a kid of about nine, watching documentaries about the civil rights movement with my parents. In fact, I vividly recall the anger I felt watching African-American protesters sprayed violently by fire hoses and attacked by police dogs during the marches of the 1960s.

"Those bastards," I said, disgusted at the men brandishing the hoses and the dogs.

It was the first time I swore in front of my parents, and I recall my dad whipping his neck around to face me as soon as the phrase slipped from my lips. I don't remember much after that -- other than the fact that I didn't get in trouble. I just learned that "bastard" was a bad word, and that even if it was an apt term for some folks, I was not yet allowed to say it.

Nearly twenty-five years later, I'm starting to feel the immense weight of what it means to "raise a child." Everything we say and do will mean something to this impressionable little thing in our care. We've got a lot to think about.

I have to thank my parents for giving me a good foundation, but soon, the rest will be up to us. The message in this video is a good start.