Children learn from you. The power that nobody can take from you is the power to develop yourself into the kind of person you want your children to be.

They learn from everything you do. They learn how to deal with conflict from how you deal with conflict with your ex. They learn about kindness and compassion from the way they see you extending kindness and compassion, not only in easy situations, but in situations with your co-parents. Are you honest with yourself about what you are modeling?

You can’t control your co-parent, but you can control yourself. The way you model behavior will be extremely important to your children’s development, no matter what your co-parent does! If your co-parent behaves badly, this is all the more reason why you must walk the high ground. If you allow yourself to behave badly in reaction to your co-parent, your child now has two parents role modeling bad behavior.

Self-reflection and self-growth is a process that is ongoing. You can’t and won’t be perfect, but children benefit immensely from the courage you have to look at yourself honestly and grow.