Thinking a lot about parenting this week...

From my room, I can hear the twins practicing their clarinet and trumpet together.  I love it!  (They are practicing their chromatic scales, which has me feeling very nostalgic about my days in band.)  It's gotten me thinking about what I will encourage... suggest... mandate... that my children do to be better people.

It is important to me that if I have children, they will... 

Play instruments and read music.  They get to choose what instruments... kind of.  My mom let me choose any other instrument I wanted after at least a year in piano lessons. 

Play team sports, at least when they are young, but this won't be as strong of a suggestion as playing music.  

Read lots and lots of books.  And they should be able to tell me what they thought of each book and why.

Be an involved member of each community they belong to (home, school, friends, etc.).  It is important to me that they contribute to and invest in the lives of the people around them.  I want to someday teach my kids to be more of a blessing than a burden wherever they go.  At home, they'll participate in the working of the home and contribute to community in that way by being part of a team.  

Handle money well.

The more I think about it, the more excited I am about my maybe someday family.

Update (9/13): After helping one of the girls just now with her current events assignment, I have decided I also want my children to be up to date with what is going on in the news.  I would do so at their level, i.e. I would not simply turn on the news for them to watch, but we would talk about what is going on in the world in a way that would not depress or overwhelm them once they were at an age where such a thing were appropriate.