Principle centered child raising

If I had to describe the type of parenting I try to live by, I think I'd call it principle centered child rearing.  It's impossible to come up with rules to cover EVERYTHING that our children will encounter.  Even if we did know each and every situation our kids would be faced with, the list of rules would be so huge that no one could possibly remember them.  So, we teach principles and we try to live the principles we teach and hope that our children will be strong enough to make the correct choices in whatever situation they're in.  Some basic principles include kindness, honesty, modesty, respect...and as Thumper's Dad said, "If you can't say sumthin nice, don't say nuthin at all."

There are still rules each family has to make but if we combine those rules with the underlying principles behind them, our children will be better equipped to make their own decisions when we're not around to tell them what to do.  And that's what the eventual goal of our parenting is...to see them grow into happy, healthy, principled adults.