Who can forget the hoopla surrounding Y2K at this time last year, and the massive preparations for the millennium New Year's celebrations? Well, thankfully, the banks didn't run out of money, the clocks kept ticking, and we've recovered from the party hangovers!

This year marked many changes in our country. The stock market slowed its upward spiral, at the time of this writing we still haven't secured a president, and health officials announced we are fatter than ever. The sad part of this latter observation is that our children are fatter than ever, with 25 percent of them deemed obese.

A friend and I were talking about how difficult it is to raise children in this era. They have all their material needs met--and then some. She was concerned about how her daughter would face her teenage years, the rebellious adolescent phase that so many of us old time moms recall with more than a shudder.

It's hard to give advice because quite frankly, a lot of what happens to our children may be in the hands of genes and fate. However, at this holiday time when children are first and foremost on our minds, we can look to good old-fashioned values and try to focus how our parents and grandparents before them tried to teach us discipline, self-respect and compassion for others.

Although we live in an affluent area, these values will serve our children well no matter which road they choose. Although we live in a culture that caters to outward appearance, it's the inward strength that will propel us and our children to live happy productive lives.

The best holiday gift we can give our children is the gift we give ourselves. We, as parents, need to nurture our minds and bodies so that our children have role models to follow.

So many of the instructors at MBS are parents themselves. Michael, Leslie, Dotty, Andrea, Patty, Andi, Anna and many more juggle their careers with parenting. So many members arrive with babes in arms and older kids who know that it's mom or dad's time to take care of themselves.

Truly, I think this IS the greatest gift of all...to shepherd our children into a mind set in which they honor their minds and bodies and be mindful that everyone is not as fortunate as we are.