Leading by example - A five minute freewrite

The primary reason for the remarkable evolution of the human species lies in our power to mimic our environment. Our parents. The elderly. Our peers. It should, then, come without saying that the smartest plan for a brighter future is leading by example. Think about it, how many children have you witnessed ultimately turn into younger versions of their parents?

Too often, however, do I see the older generations rage at the younger for having done the same things they showed them how to do themselves.
I see parents yelling at their children for spending too much time on their phones, while they themselves spend countless hours on social media and pay zero attention to the actual world. I see parents being mad about the very habits they helped impose themselves. Being mad about all the things they do, too, and yet somehow, when another does it, those very things are wrong.

How, then, do children make sense of all they are told?

How, then, do they tell right from wrong?

How, then, do they grow up to be different? To be better?

Time and time again it has proven that preaching one thing and doing another isn’t the smartest idea.

And even still… We, the old and the young, never seem to learn.