I'm a big believer in aligning our interests and desires with what’s healthy...

I’m a big believer in aligning our interests and desires with what’s healthy for us, and using our self-discipline to make that alignment stick. When we do that, we naturally choose what’s right and good. It becomes instinct. It becomes part of who we are. We internalize virtue, instead of forcing ourselves down a path that feels unnatural.

This is exactly how you start the process with children. It’s natural for children to want story, adventure, make-believe, and fun. If you can turn the things they have to do into a story-filled adventure, you stop fighting with them. They start internalizing the habits, beliefs, and ideas through the stories.

This is how our ancestors raised their children.

There’s a reason why the West has such a vast body of children’s literature, and we’ve only preserved a tiny fraction of what once existed. Those stories came from mothers. They were designed to teach. A mother might memorize hundreds of stories, because she couldn’t afford books, or maybe couldn’t read at all. When I started telling stories to my kids, I did the same thing.

Instead of reading from a book, I memorized the story and told it to them face to face. That way, I could watch their expressions. I wasn’t just reading words, I was communicating, connecting, imprinting the moral of the story directly into their hearts.

I don’t fight with my children. I align them with what is right.