How not to parent.

My dad once told me to never pee directly into the wind.

My father is exceptionally kind, patient, and understanding. I work very hard to model myself after him. Some days are better than others...

You're asking two questions:

Inherited qualities: High IQ (both), physical strength (dad).

Learned qualities:

• Fiscal responsibility, value of saving, and prioritizing spending (both)
• Vocabulary and writing skills (both)
• Logical thought, debate, sarcasm (mostly dad)
• Willingness to stand up to authority (mostly dad)
• Appreciation of the arts, education, and culture (both)
• The value of political involvement including peaceful protest (both)
• The value of drive and focus to achieve in school, sports, and work (mom)

Thanks a lot for asking about best qualities. I have a tendency to focus on the negative. So listing out positive things was a good reminder that focus has a big impact on mood etc.

My parents were so awful I decided I would have nothing from them. left as soon as I was able ot look out for myself at fifteen and my brother did the same.

They taught us how evil and ignorant racism is. This is in a town, and at a time of separate water fountains and restrooms for black people.

The value of education and hard work.

My grandparents taught me what "good" actually was, and how commitment to another is worth the effort. My mother taught me how to solve problems, think critically, and how to identify what intelligence was applicable to the situation. My father taught me loyalty and that if your friend had to stand up at the gates of hell, you stand shoulder to shoulder before you ask why.

A lot and its all good!!!....whatever I may have done or will do wrong (because I will) it is entirely my fault, not theirs

I never had a mom . But my father taught me by talking and observing pretty much everything I do as adult minus been a woman . Even on that , dad was wise to show me options and choices by letting me see the best and the worse of any style . An atheist him self , he insist of studying religions of the world so I CAN MAKE MY OWN MIND . I think the most precious to me thing that dad passed to me by birth is loyalty , give 100%, laugh at self , independence , make your own rules to live by and brake them if u have to .

Financial responsibility from my dad, resourcefulness from my mom.

Dad - boundless intellectual curiosity.
Mum - empathy.

I got fierce loyalty from my mom.

I like to think I got my father's empathy.

My parents were married for 64 years. I guess that taught me what a relationship is really about. When you make a commitment to someone , it is through thick and thin and good times and bad. They absolutely did not have the perfect marriage by any stretch of the imagination, but when they look back on their journey in life together I'm sure they don't have any regrets that they stayed together.

Brutal tenacity, directness, the beauty of simplicity, humility, to laugh fully - these are the good ones. I've got a whole list of inherited crazy, but those good ones got me started down the path in a good way and I'm grateful.

The qualities which were instilled in me by my parents, not inherited, were treating other people with dignity and respect, being caring and kind.

I think a lot of what i learned from my parents, both good and bad, they taught me without knowing they were doing so. i think they taught me to appreciate diversity with some consciousness of what they were doing but they mostly led by example. an exception would be the time my dad got mad at me for using the term "china marker" when i asked for one (i was editing film and that is a common tool for that). he told me that this was a phrase that hearkened back to the time when the chinese were so discriminated against, much as were jews, that (in the case of both ethnicities) since no one would hire them, they had to start their own businesses, and the chinese tended to go into the laundry business. they used laundry pens. my father was incorrect on this count, actually. the term "china marker" simply refers to a pen that can write on porcelain, or china. but his reaction to my request made a lasting impression on me regarding the use of language to hurt other people -- how not to do that. when people complain about pc, i think, why do people need to be TAUGHT not to hurt one another? why is the offended party the one in the wrong? if we are raised to see each other as valuable humans, we don't need to be TOLD not to call each other names.

off the top of my head, i can think of two lessons my mother had to impart that stuck with me, and by which she consciously meant to teach. one was what i call the broken cup theory. if you have a guest and you have two cups and one cup is broken, you take the broken cup and give the visitor the good cup. i guess it was a lesson about not being selfish, or self-serving. the other was something i've since heard elsewhere but first heard from mom: "my right to swing my arm ends at your nose." that probably needs no explanation!

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From my dad: sarcasm and wit
From my mom: how to be too self-sacrificing. To save people any way possible, and how to stand up for what I believe in

From my father, sarcasm, his love of science fiction and the importance of education. From my mother, her giving spirit, work ethic and humility.

Critical thinking from my mother.