What leaders do in moderation, followers do to excess

I heard this quote years ago and while I believe it is attributed to church leadership, it applies to pretty much any area of leadership / followership.  As a manager in the office if I badmouth a co-worker, the people who report to me will most likely feel the freedom to badmouth others to a more severe degree.

This applies with you as a parent and your kids as well.  Do small negative things and larger negative things will be the fruit.  The good thing is it works both ways; demonstrate good behavior, actions, words, etc. and your kids will magnify that.

This is essentially the spiritual principle of sowing and reaping.  You will sow what you reap whether you explicitly intend to do so or not.

Practical things to not do?  Speak ill of your spouse, parents :-), co-workers, drivers; acting one way with one crowd of people and another way with another crowd; or other behavior that could be misinterpreted in the wrong context.

Things to do?  Praise your spouse (and parents), serve others, demonstrate spiritual disciplines, exemplify a life of giving to others....and the scout law is always a good thing to exercise at all times as well.