Yep.....THAT'S a good kid.

   As a parent, we all want our children to excel at something if not EVERYTHING. We want our child to be the best baseball player (so much that we make a complete ass out of ourselves at a little league game), runner (so much that we put our 15 year old on such a strict diet that if he/she gets sick...a trip to the hospital is inevitable), math student (so much where we try to 'coerce' teachers into letting our child do extra credit to get just a little bit more than yours), I can go on and on but I'm sure you get the picture.   What happened to wanting our children to excel at being 'good kids'. I'm not talking about "my child has NEVER done anything wrong". I'm talking about the child that silently does the right thing because.....well....that's what you do.  You don't need to be rewarded for NOT being a jerk. NOT being a jerk IS your reward. Being the kid that people say "That guy is so nice. He's nice to EVERYONE."  I remember THESE kids in school. Honestly I don't remember WHO was the smart kid. I don't remember who was great at football or volleyball. I do remember the ones who were nice. No, it wasn't me. I was a real turd. My self esteem wasn't always the greatest so being mean was something that I found to be a bit of a defense mechanism.  (Not a good excuse, but it's the truth).  I have come to terms with my bitchiness. I have apologized to some of the people. (there are still some out there that I wish desperately I could find so I could apologize. Just to let them know that it was ME not them.)
     I guess what I'm trying to say is: Encourage your children to do the right thing because it is the right thing. Whether or not you're a Christian (love thy neighbor), IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO.  How proud of your daughter would you be if she sat next to the girl who always gets picked on because she didn't want her to eat alone?  How proud of your son would you be if he 'hung out' with the 'stinky kid' because nobody would let him play tag?  If THIS doesn't make you proud, then I guess maybe there's a reason WHY we have such a Bullying problem these days. 
     Jesus still loves you just like this, but loving your neighbor is so much nicer. :)