Bill Phillip's | Transformation

A lesson in humility.

It can be a wonderful gift.

Teaching humility as a father will demand more of you and is tricky. Humility doesn’t make sense unless it is modeled. If you want your daughter to love reading, you must read. If you want her to be athletic, go for a run. The same is true with humility. If you live it, she will get it. Remember, she is a dry sponge following you around, waiting to see what you think, feel, and do.

Humility is seeing ourselves honestly. It keeps us in the real world. Because we want our daughters to excel at everything they do, to be prettier, smarter, better than everyone else, we can confuse our priorities – and theirs.

One problem is self - centeredness. When family activities revolve around what we believe our kids “need” or “want” in order to feel better about themselves, we drive them to be self-centered. They may find no joy in what’s around them. They may focus on success, not on friends. Humility brings with it deep joy and satisfaction because it keeps us from becoming self – absorbed.

Keep her world larger than herself and her talents. Gently guide her to recognize her strengths and limitations. Let her fail. Let her know that you still love her when she fails. Let her know that she’s valuable not only for what she does, but for who she is. People are valuable because they are human, not because of what they do.

Humility will keep her balanced. Happiness should not become a goal. That goal could become justification for self -indulgence. It can encourage selfishness. It can be how children become “spoiled”.

Humility teaches us rules and self-restraint that we’re part of a larger community and need to work together for the good of the whole. Humility teaches us responsibility, and it teaches us to consider the needs of others. It tells us to look outward rather than focusing obsessively on ourselves, and it reminds us that we aren’t the only ones who count.

If you teach your daughter to be good rather than simply happy, she will become both. Teaching your daughter humility is a wonderful gift. And can only be taught by example.