I know that sounds like an 'of course' but I often get concerned that all the things my mom did over the years and the overall culture has affected them so much that I didn't have much of an influence. I spent too much time at odds and feeling like I was fighting dominant culture, in any case I did raise them to be people I like and recognize.

One way is that they are genuinely nice people. They care and show it. They also get along with people of all ages, high school wasn't so great but as adults they do well. My daughters both struggle with having female friends (one reason I care so much about a more gender neutral world), I told my middle that it does get better with time. You find other women who have more varied interests than makeup and shopping.

Today was great. My son said he is interested in earning money. He is working on saving up $5K to buy a decent car with cash. That is great, I have taught my kids to avoid debt. My girls both have car loans which were necessary but they still would prefer to not have a loan. Then today T told me he is interested in getting rental properties which is more like dad to care about money making (not bad) but that he also wanted to provide affordable housing in Denver (me and my social justice focus). That just made me smile.