I remember the first time that I held my son, looked in his eyes, and he smiled at me. This was when he was maybe two and a half months old. This was the most powerful experience in my life thus far.

But think – when you feed a baby, you always look down at them and smile. Small wonder, then, that this will be the first way they will communicate back to you.

But what if you are a twisted, or maybe just indifferent person? What if the very first thing that the child learns from you is being ignored, being frowned at or even being shouted at for nothing (not that a 1 month old would understand consequence anyway)?

People often say that the children are our future. I disagree. The children are their own future. The best thing that we, as parents (and adults who are not parents) can do is to love them unconditionally, and equip them for their life journeys.

Your children reflect who you are. Except in very specific cases, a problem child most likely has a problem parent, or no parents at all.