Holier than thou?

You know, it is not often as the parent of a teenager that you see the fruits of your labors in parenting. More often than not, the teenage years seem to be all about rebelling against every single value you have tried to instill. But recently, my teenage daughter showed me a character trait that made me weep with pride.

I have made many mistakes in parenting, there is no doubt about that. But, I have tried to focus on the truly important lessons in life that it took me far too long to learn myself. One such lesson is that true nobility is not pretending to be better than anyone else; it is striving to always be better than you used to be. I have tried hard to teach my daughter to treat others with respect and always as equals. Last week, she proved to me that she had received that message loud and clear.

The origin of the word "snob" is that it was originally used to describe a shoemaker. Later, the word came to define those lacking in higher rank or status. How fitting. It couldn't be more true that those who believe that they are better than everyone else (those we now refer to as snobs) are truly the ones lacking in real status. When my daughter confronted someone with a runaway ego recently and defended someone else that the snob  had treated as inferior, I couldn't have been more proud if I had been watching her accept the Nobel Peace Prize. 

Lesson: Your kids really are listening when it counts. Don't give up on trying to teach them the difference between right and wrong.

P.S. My opinion in this matter was not at all jaded by the fact that the little snob also dissed my book!