The One Thing That You Need To Teach Your Child

What is the one thing that you need to teach your child?

Overhead, the suggested answer is to teach your child the discipline of cultivating winning habits. 

This is a compelling answer and the following poem will shed some light in support of the suggested answer.

The Habit Poem 

I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden.
I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.
I am completely at your command.
Half the things you do, you might just as well turn over to me,
and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly.
I am easily managed; you must merely be firm with me.
Show me exactly how you want something done, and after a few lessons I will do it automatically.

I am the servant of all great men.
And, alas, of all failures as well.
Those who are great, I have made great.
Those who are failures, I have made failures.
I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine.
Plus, the intelligence of a man.
You may run me for profit, or run me for ruin; it makes no difference to me.
Take me, train me, be firm with me and I will put the world at your feet.
Be easy with me, and I will destroy you.
Who am I?

I am a HABIT! 

But, this discipline would apply to teenagers and adults, as well. After all, we will need to discard some childish habits (much like the following playhouse) and cultivate new habits so as to grow in stature.

In answer to the million-dollar question of what is the sure way to success, the answer came as: Replace bad habits with winning habits!