Kids feel the stress to perform well, when they see that other kids in their class do better than they can. My kids know that as long as they have put in their best effort, I am pleased with whatever result they bring home to me. So far, things have been good. Sometimes, things don’t work out well, but we get over it together as a family quite quickly.

From a young age, I let my kids define what are their own standards of failure and success. When they succeed according to their own terms, we celebrate together as a family. When they fail, we also mourn the failures together. Failure and success are a part of life, and it helps that we are able to share the good and bad times together.

We went through a phase where junk food was allowed at home and outside the home - eat all you want, I will give you the money for it. So they ate, and they got tired of it. We eat junk food maybe once or twice a week nowadays, but only as occasional snacks. No cravings.

My kids never liked how other kids were rude, so I guess that made them more conscious of how they should treat their own parents, teachers and friends.

My kids have high IQ scores. From young, they were intellectually curious. I was always more interested in making sure that their emotional well-being, sense of responsibility and maturity of thought were developed. They were more than able to look after their own intellectual development by themselves

When my kids were at university, they decided that after watching me meditate whenever I felt stressed, that they’d try it for themselves too. Worked well, and their exam results were good too.

I am able to concentrate with music in the background. Not all the time. And my kids are like that too. So they decide if they want music, the type of music, or they might themselves enforce "silence" zones in the house.

My friends were probably more stressed than their kids were. I took meditation, so each time I became worried, I’d try to calm myself down. The kids were glad that their mum wasn’t all highly strung before and during their exams, and this helped our relationships with each other.

I had enjoyed reading from a young age. When my kids saw that I read regularly, they got curious about the different non-fiction journals, publications etc and they started to read…just "to be like Mummy". And we like to talk to each other about the interesting things we recently read.

One of my kids went to the same school as his best friend since kindergarten. My daughter chose a school that is nearer home and had been keeping in touch with the same best friend even after they both did their Master’s.