Early in life, most people would tend to define the term legacy as items that are being left behind after one has passed. With busy schedules and hopefully many, many decades before these types of end of life questions need to be addressed, we often tend to see legacy as a financial term. It is going to be the inheritance that is left to our children or perhaps even grandchildren. But it is a long way off in the future and not something that requires much thought during these early years as a responsible adult. But that, in fact, is the time to begin planning what will be your legacy. With August being What Will Be Your Legacy Month, this is the perfect time to begin to plan your true legacy.
As a young parent, the thought of providing financially for your child’s future and even that of several future generations feels important. However, it is also a distant project as you are currently trying to balance work, babies, and finances in what feels li, e a blur of days and weeks. But don’t mistake your estate with your legacy. Financial planning and the protection of all that you have earned and gathered over the course of your life is important. After all, it represents a lifetime of work, but that is your estate and not your true legacy. That estate could disappear tomorrow as a result of bad investments, a tragic fire or huge medical bills but your true legacy would remain as powerful and full of potential as ever. And it is something that requires your attention throughout your entire life.
Your legacy begins the day that you welcome that first child into the world or open your heart to that lost child who has no family and no place in this world to call home. And each day that you spend with your child or your children is, in essence, adding another building block to what will become your legacy. The character lessons, the warm hugs, the discipline that evokes tears from your child and later from you when no one else is watching, and the self-esteem and integrity that you nurture as each child grows, those are the gifts that you are bestowing on your child and the world. Later in life, you will watch, encourage and, even offer advice as your child digs deep inside himself or herself to find the strength, wisdom, and goodness that is the foundation of your legacy and your child’s adult life.
It is a certain truth that we can all be very judgmental about ourselves and the choices we have made or how well we fulfilled our job as a parent. But raising a child is a long-term commitment and one that cannot be judged until the process is completed. A taste of cake batter will not do justice to the moist, soft and flavorful cake that will eventually come out of the oven and your teenager is not a good test sample of how well you did in your parenting duties. And remember that even after the cake comes out of the oven, it needs time to cool, be iced and then adorned with decorations to add the finishing touch. And our children are just like those cakes. If my parents had judged their level of success when I turned 18 and magically became an adult, they would have been incredibly depressed, and possibly even suicidal. But with patience, additional guidance and some serious work on my part as well as theirs at times, I did manage to turn out ok. And more days than not, I look up and hope that they can somehow see me and that they are proud of their finally finished project. And I say that because now I am my own work in progress and their job as my parents is complete. But I would not be anywhere near who I am today without the lifetime of work, effort and endless patience that my parents invested in their legacy.
So, plan for your financial future and that of your children but from day one, invest in each child with love, patience, understanding and above all your time. Teaching the skills and lessons required to be a good person can only come from a good person, not a book, not a video game and not the Internet. And then know that your legacy will continue to touch the world for generations to come.