The ideal child:  IQ in the low 200s, the wisdom of Socrates, the compassion of Mother Theresa, the business mind of Donald Trump, the strength and skill of an Olympic athlete, the leadership of Winston Churchill, the pen of Shakespeare, the tongue of Martin Luthor King Jr, the creativity of Leonardo da Vinci.  Able to handle any emergency, fearing nothing, responsible, punctual, well groomed, polite, and chivalrous.  Can we produce one?  No?  Even with the hundreds of books in the bookstore and millions of tips littering the Internet?

Why are kids immune to our parental efforts? Why are there no perfect kids out there?

The Answer Is Parents ...

Not that parents don't try, it's that parents aren't.  You see, in order to teach those things parents have the be those things.  Fuzzy personality traits are acquired through watching and experiencing.  Kids need a model; a person to show them the way, the results of all these great traits.

Unfortunately, parents need to fix themselves before they can teach their kids.  Can you imagine a nasty person enlightening someone on how to be nice?  A TV addict professing the virtues of books and outdoor activity?  A terminally timid person coaching another on being a hard negotiator or a successful networker?  It would never work because it's not believable.  Children see right through that, wondering,

"Hey, if what they're saying is so right then why aren't they DOING it?"

A very legitimate question.  Read on.