Compassion, resourcefulness and resilience form a rounded good person. So that’s what I’d like to leave my children and grandchildren.
What would you like to leave your children?
Question
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Identity & self
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What is the book you have given most as a gift, and why?
Taste & recommendation
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How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
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What keeps you awake at night?
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Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Verbatim recurring item in The Guardian Q&A; two publisher-hosted respondent pages establish institutional recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I want to leave my children three foundational tools to navigate the world:
Life skills: The practical capability and independence to take care of themselves, solve everyday problems, and handle adult responsibilities with ease.
Confidence: A self-belief rooted in resilience, knowing they have worth, deserve to take up space, and can handle failure without letting it define them.
A sense of humor: The ability to find levity in life's absurdity, laugh at themselves, and keep perspective when things don't go according to plan.
If they leave home with these three things, they'll have everything they need to build a meaningful life.
Others on this question
View all 44 →Ever since they were born, Vic and I have been clear: happiness and confidence are the two things we want most for our children and the rest can all fall into place.
Mohamed ElBaradei
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 1997-2009; Nobel Peace Prize 2005
For them, home is the world. For them, every human being is just one member of that large human family you have. ... if we have more children like mine, in my view, we will not have war.
Exactly what my parents left me: the knowledge of the difference between good and bad and right and wrong. Everything else is entirely up to them.
More from @aliabbasi
View profile →A pilot
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Positive, Confident, Easy Going
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Not being able to start my own company
Working on new ideas and driving
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