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I asked Val, the friend who joined The Peace Corps, what is one thing your mom taught you that has stuck with you?

She said prayer. Her mom asked her to pray on good days and bad. And she did this herself as well. What answer do you hope your children give to this question?

I want it to be faith. I talk to my kids about Allah all the time. I try to pinpoint Him out in every situation. We talk about the Names of Allah as well. In my stories, I mentioned how my daughter was watching me put makeup on and I looked at her through the mirror and said, "Mirror, mirror on the wall... who is the kindest of them all?"

The question stirs her and she asks, "Who is it mom?" And before I can say anything, she says, "Oh I know! It's Allah!" More than anything, however, I know what sticks are your choices and actions as parents. Words don't stick as well. Often parents can lead with double-standards: we expect our kids to make certain decisions when we are not willing to make those decisions ourselves. 

Kids are watching more and closer than we think. I promise you that. If we want kids to follow a certain standard, we need to hold those standards for ourselves.

Kids need to see sacrifice in order to make one themselves.

Kids need to see choices and priorities in order to make those judgments successfully themselves. I have a worksheet to go with this post, DM me your email if you want it. I will actually have a worksheet with most of my reflections. So DM me if you want to be in my list. Now you tell me. What is one thing your mom taught that sticks with you even today? Comment below.