@philosophyminis: How do you know if you had good parents? How do you know if your mum or your dad raised you properly? Well, according to the Roman philosopher Plutarch, there is one way to know for certain: You want to behave like them. There is a quote I like which says that ‘children are great imitators, so we should give them something great to imitate.’ Because while it might seem that children want to ignore us, and they rebel and challenge everything we say, they are actually taking form in our shadow. The way mum and dad talk, walk, play, cry, and laugh becomes the standard. Plutarch emphasised the role of the moral exemplar, and he argued that the job of a parent was to support and guide the child in becoming a good person. Of course, the parent needs to care and nurture for their child. They need to put food on the table and provide a safe and secure environment. But they also need to demonstrate what a good person looks like. They need to be polite to other people. They need to model being hardworking. They need to be caring, kind, and generous, because then the child will see these things not as virtuous or as good, but just as the normal way to behave. So, a good parent is one that you think about a lot. It is one where you say, 'what would mum do?' or 'how would dad approach this?' because even after our parents are long gone, and they have left us, they live on in the fabric of our being.

Jonny Thomson

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Saturday 25 April 2026 13:16:49 GMT