Dear parent, this is a letter coming from a child to you. I'm here to give you some advice.

Your example carries more weight than your words. What do I mean by this? What you do as a parent is more important than what you say. This is not to say that your words don't carry any weight, your actions just carry more weight. Children are inclined to emulate what you do, regardless of what you say. Please practise what you preach.

You can't tell your child not to drink or smoke while you have a cigarette in your mouth and a beer in your hand. Someday, when that child ends up drinking or smoking, you won't be able to reprimand them because they'll tell you that they saw you doing it!

Back to what I said in the beginning: example carries more weight than words.

I thank you.

Felix Gray, Hatfield, Pretoria.