Six things

What are six things I would teach my children? I'm not going to put these things into order because I believe the there is more than just one "most important" thing to teach a child. So in no particular order the things I would teach my children would be respect, honesty, independence, compassion, happiness, and reality.
Respect: this is one of the more common virtues a child should learn. Not only should one learn to respect others but he/she must learn to respect themselves and keep this in mind especially going into young adulthood. There are many influences a child can go through during their teen years (and even before teen years). The idea of respect to adults, to someone else's property, and to yourself is essential to growing up, maturing and essential to having self-confidence.
Honesty: without this, life would be filled with uncertainty. Trust would cease to exist. I would teach my children honesty by being honest with them. I would teach them to be honest with their feelings, honest with their peers, etc. I will show them that honesty can lead to good things, and though sometimes it is hard to be honest about negative things that you've done. I will teach them to remember that it is not honesty that gets the consequences but the action itself.
Independence: Growing up I was completely dependent on my mother, she did everything for me including cooking my food, showering me, waking me up, down to taking off my socks after school. Of course I want my children to always need me for something but I want them to grow up knowing their full capabilities. I want them to learn to cook food ( or at least heat them up), to do their own laundry, clean after themselves. All these things that will help better prepare them in the future.
Compassion: I think that this virtue is quite important in shaping a person. Compassion for other humans and animals link to kindness and selflessness and that's what i want my children to be. I want them to have big hearts and learn how to love things and help them. I want them to be aware of their fortunes and others who lack it. I want them to appreciate all that they will have and to be grateful.
Happiness: this one's a bit tricky. You can't exactly teach someone happiness in a classroom through lectures. But you can definitely show it. Happiness doesn't mean a fancy car or an expensive laptop. Happiness doesn't mean going to harvard on a full ride scholarship or winning millions of dollars in a lottery (though I wouldn't mind any of those things at all). Real happiness comes from something you do that you're compassionate about. Whether its something like singing or dancing, or simply having a family of your own. Having a happy life means your with people that you love or pursuing something that you love.
Reality: Life isn't all cupcakes and butterflies. Reality isn't a pretty picture and I want to make sure my kids know that. I would love to keep their naivity but eventually someones got to teach them the rights and wrongs of this world and i'd rather it be me. I will show them that not everyone is a compassionate, or honest, or respectful person. That life will have many bumps in the road and they will feel defeated more times than they would remember but the lesson is to not dwell on it too much and that life goes on and they must live it the best that they can.

These are all the things that me and my future husband would work hard to teach our children. These and much much more. Life is full of lessons, some of it pleasant and some of it are hard. We will teach them the best that we can and someday, i hope that they will be grateful for it.