No matter how successful you become you’re still expected to act with integrity and respect.


14, 18, 21



Practice "shaking off the sleepy." It's hard to wake up when your body is screaming for more sleep. If you practice, you'll get better. Get up, get in the shower and shake off the sleepy. It works!


6, 7, 13-15



Japanese multiplication (counting lines.)


8



Start a vegetable garden.


7



Watch movie Sky Walk (2019) it’s about a school paper.


14, 18



Imagine a hundred different lives. Try a dozen of them. Fail at most of them. That’s part of what your twenties are for. Challenge yourself. Challenge your assumptions. Change your perspective. Grow.


20



Ask them to name 2 current or historical figures that they admire and why (one man one woman).


6-18



Keep difficult conversations brief. Under ten minutes then table it so everyone can process.


13, 14, 16. 19, 21



You don’t owe me a thing. Live your life as you will. I will always love you.


18, 21



Start a yearly “review” right before school year. Raise allowance as appropriate. If they want more money, they’ll have to take on more responsibilities.


8



If you want people to believe you, trust you and be able to depend on you, then you must have integrity. Integrity means that you tell the truth, don’t deceive or cheat, you keep your word and you pitch in to help with little things and big things without having to be asked. Who are the people you know who have integrity? Do you want to be a man of integrity?


13, 17



Checkout Bedtime Math app. It’s a tool to make math fun.


5



Listen to albums. Two of my favorites came out the very same month: Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé and The Tortured Poets Department by Taylor Swift.


12



None of us sit high enough to look down on anybody.


11, 14, 17, 21



Birds of a feather flock together


14



Assume any email or text you send will be distributed.


12, 15



SAT Prep https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/opinion/how-i-learned-to-take-the-sat-like-a-rich-kid.html


16



Go as a family to local high school musical productions.


9-13



1

When you’re at home in your own skin you invite people to be at home in theirs too.


14, 20



Notre Dame Lullabies by the O’Neil Brothers is my favorite album ever. I used to play it at your bedtime when u were a baby and even sometimes when you were a kid. It reminds me of the happiest time of my life, when you came into it. Play it for me when I’m old and gray, okay?


21



“Distraction is the death of art. But boredom is the birth place of it.” (Forgot who said this)


12, 15, 21



The most attractive man in the world is one who brings peace.


21



Read Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson together.


17



Read Moth by Amber McBride. Young adult fiction in verse about grief. Twists and turns.


15



Explain what “On my honor” means.


8



Someone I admire is __________. Talk about someone you admire and why. Ask them to do the same. Do this often as you can. Reticket through age 18.


4



“Your warmth can be an invitation that unlocks their own.” - Elizabeth Lesser. I love this quote because it’s so true that when you’re kind and genuine, people respond. They take it as a signal that you are a safe place for them to express themselves, which will enable a true connection to be formed. You both win when that happens.


15, 21



Dating advice: If they like you, you’re gonna know. If they don’t, you’re gonna be confused.”


16, 21



You can be angry. But you can’t drive while angry or talk to a child or work, or do anything dangerous when you’re angry.


15, 20



“Be curious. Read. Use the latest tools available to you.” - Bill Gates when asked for his advice to young people in the dawn of AI era.


12, 14, 16, 18