If your kids see one movie 1000 times...

My oldest daughter watched Jurassic Park and Toy Story so many times I started to (especially with Toy Story) be able to recite dialogue from any queued point in the film. These movies taught two things, be afraid of the impossible and newcomers are not necessarily enemies. Okay, so Toy Story had a better message.

The one film I've watched and enjoyed,  for kids (Jurassic Park was not a kids film) is "Meet the Robinsons." This film has the right elements to keep a kid engaged and teaching a valuable lesson for life, "Keep Moving Forward."

This is not going to affect their driving test at age 16, it means that you don't give up. Setbacks are part of life, failures are normal and we benefit from them by learning that something is not something to repeat, but not to give up a direction.

It needs balance, of course. You need to be able to assess whether a direction, in itself, is an error in judgement, but even if it is you don't need to give up. Pick a new path and keep moving forward.

Sure, this can be applied wrong and create financial stress on parents and partners alike. Some people start something good and are so afraid of success they give up. They are actually less afraid of the success they have as what they believe will be certain failure down the line.

I believe there are a few key qualities you need to instil in a child, a responsibility as a parent:

• persistence and perseverance (tenacity) when confronted with a problem or challenge
• self-worth and the knowledge that it matters most that you're a good person and that you know it.
• self-respect and the ability to choose what is right or wrong for yourself regardless of what peers say.
• respect others and treat them as you would be like to be treated, even if they don't return the favour.
• independence through encouragement, helping them face fears head on, and letting them make it through on their own, with support, but on their own.

There may be more, but this is what I have in mind at the moment.