Many of you lately have asked us to discuss how we raise our kids as warriors and what it is like for us to have one of our kids at one of the military academies. We get so many that Stacy and I have reflected often on the experience of raising kids and what we have done that is of any value.

 13 warrior lessons

I would have to start with defining a warrior. There are two types of warriors: those in war, and those who are forward leaning and openly willing to make it through adversity to achieve a goal. Since kids are not really at war, I reflect on the latter definition to describe raising warriors.

For me, and if you as a mom or a dad don’t agree, than so be it, parents are responsible to teaching their kids to lean forward into life, to deal with adversity well, and to play in a bigger cause than self serving smallness. The raising of a young child into an adult and on to being a warrior in their life is very hard. Combat is easier. You as a parent are responsible to getting it done. You must model the behavior you are asking of your kids. No short cuts, no having other people raise your kids because it is too hard and you have other self interests involved. You must be the example and that is very hard.

When I wrote the 13 Unbreakable Lessons into the book I wanted my kids to learn each one. Because each lesson deals with them and each lesson helps overcome internal and external adversity. It makes them warriors in their own lives.