Not doing bad is NOT doing good

First thing I saw this morning was this video:

When your Monday morning starts with you trying to figure out how the hell we are supposed to raise normal, nice kids...it is not a good start of the week. No, I don't throw up on the side of the road, I don't yell racist comment in people's faces, nor do I smash stuff because I am angry. I don't smoke either, but my husband does, so does my brother and our favorite neighbour. Male role models for my sons. Our children learn from everything that is around them. No, I don't think they will necessarily start smoking at 12 y.o. because their father smokes, but I know that if they see a certain behavior patterns over and over and over again...they will 'learn' them as the norm. However, not being BAD does not make us GOOD. And that is the truth! The fact that I refrain from yelling at people on the street so my kid won't see the real me, the monster mommy, DOES NOT make me a good person.

I took my kid out on my bike today. Nothing special, a mom on her bike riding with her kid. Only one kid, no special treatment necessary. I needed to cross the street where there was no pedestrian crossing, wasn't giving it much thought, which is why I didn't even notice the guy stopping the traffic and calling for me. Come, come...he said, holding his hand out to the cars, signaling for them to wait. And then he just continued on his way. That is the kind of behavior I would love for my kids to see more off. Not less of the bad and inappropriate, but more of the GOOD and so unexpected. Because, believe me, there are so many more ways to be good than to be bad.

Please watch this video! Please!