Key Moments Values Help Us Navigate Life’S Journey

Eighteen-year-olds leave home with a headful of advice from parents: Brush your teeth, work hard, don’t drink and drive.

It can add up to internal cacophony.

But what matters most throughout life’s journey is what lies at the still, quiet core of the self. Successful young adults harbor there a set of values strong enough to guide their life choices forever.

These values are formed throughout childhood and adolescence, as children watch parents and other mentors make their own choices. Wisdom, of course, is conveyed less by lectures and advice, and most convincingly by example.

The final installment of The Spokesman-Review’s 10-part “Key Moments” series today examines the troublesome messages our culture sends to young people and how parents can mitigate the damage.

Please see “A moral compass” in today’s IN Life. And for a kids’-eye view of the resources they need to navigate childhood’s key moments, see the Perspective page, B7.

By connecting children to values that endure, parents’ influence can strengthen adulthood for decades to come.