"Those who do not learn from the past..."

A famous quote that is often applied to the condition of war is "Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it."  (George Santayana).  Now, I'm not saying that raising children is a form of war  :) but the quote can also be applied to family life.

How?  We all grew up in a family.  That family had its successes and challenges.  Our parents did many things right and some things...wrong.  Do you remember saying when you were a teenager that you would NEVER do (whatever) when YOU had children?

Well, now it's your turn.  You are the parent.  You have the opportunity to raise your children any way you please.  Are you going to remember the experiences of your youth?  Are you going to try to repeat the good things your parents did?  Are you going to try to find other ways of dealing with problems that didn't work for your parents?

It is a good thing that we don't have to start from scratch when we start our own family.  We have had experiences that will help shape the decisions we make.  By remembering those past experiences, we can have an idea of what the outcome will be with our children.

It's all up to us how we apply that knowledge.  We can use it as a stepping stone to improve our role as parents or we can use it as a stumbling block to hold us back from being the best parents we can be.