**
Some of the values that I want to teach are girls are tolerance, diversity, and standing up for what you believe in--not sitting back assuming someone else will take on the status quo to effect meaningful change. Even if that change isn't about you personally - but about inequality and basic fairness. Stand up for your neighbor - one day you may need them to stand up for you.
We want to teach them to appreciate what they have—their lot in life. They were born to two educated parents. Live comfortably in one of the most beautiful (albeit expensive) cities in the country. They have two committed and dedicated parents who love them, food on the table, clothes on their backs, books, toys, and dance and soccer and..., For these things we should all be grateful. Our children were born with more opportunities and material things than 90% of the children in the world.
They are not entitled to these things. A lot of life is who you are born to and where you are born. Kids in war-torn Afganistan and Iraq are no less deserving than Rachel and Alex. Kids born to single moms, or poverty, or drug addicts, or abusive parents, or with disabilities - none are any less deserving than our children.
Along with tolerance, diversity, and courage, we want to teach our children to help others. People who face challenges in life that our kids won't. From the kid who is being bullied on the playground to the family who doesn't have enough food to eat or money to buy holiday presents.
