What Our Kids Inherit From Us

As soon as children are born, we immediately begin trying to identify who they look like, whether the child has his or her mother's eyes or father's nose or their great uncle's ears.  My son, Jaxon, definitely looks most like his daddy, but there are definitely expressions he makes that reminds us of me, my sister, or different cousins. 

Beyond physical characteristics, there are other things our children can inherit from us.  For one thing, they can sometimes inherit our demeanor or personality.  And once again, Jaxon is most like his daddy - very calm, even-tempered and a thinker.  And every time he opens his mouth, I realize he gets his strong lungs (read: loud voice) from everyone on Jon's side of the family!  From my mother, Jax gets the inherent nature to climb anything he can, from the stairs, to the table and chairs, to the baby gate keeping him from what he wants. Like my sister, Jax is very loving and loves to feel of different objects and textures.  Unfortunately, I think he has inherited the ability to crawl and walk at a relatively early age from me.

The other things that our children can inherit from us is our character.  I keep thinking of the different qualities that I want him to have, whether it is simply born within him or whether it is something he learns through us modeling it.  There are several people in our family that have a generous, open heart, something I have so admired that I've tried to learn to be the same way.  This generosity and love is something so remarkably close to God's heart that I hope it is developed in Jax.  Honesty is another character trait that I highly value and hope to instill it in Jax (if he isn't already brutally honest like his daddy!)  A trait that I am working on myself, and therefore hope it will come easier to my children, is to never talk badly about people or the church; in a way, this goes hand in hand with loving people.  I also hope Jax becomes a hard-working, industrious person, something that many people on Jon's side of the family have demonstrated; about the only time they aren't working is when they are eating or asleep at night!

As time goes on, I'm sure there will be more things to add to the list.  These things just seem to pop out to me every time I am around people who naturally display these characteristics.  And although we should never stop growing and developing our character to become more like Christ, it is a lot easier when they just come naturally to us or we learn them as children.  So here's to those of you who are displaying good traits for our kids!