The Journal Times Online - Racine, Wisconsin

So I was trying to get our family of five ready for our annual week-long trip to my parents' cabin in Northern Wisconsin.

Do you know how hard it is to pack for all those people, especially when one of them is a baby? I had to organize and stack everything from bibs and diapers to life vests and beach towels, enough underwear for everyone and extra socks.

And since the weather in that neck of the woods can range anywhere from 56 degrees and raining to 84 degrees and sweating, I also had to pack clothing for the seemingly impossible to predict range of elements.

Then I had to figure out how I was going to stuff all of us, our suitcases, the big fat stroller, the cooler, the Pack N' Play and cases of soda and water into the back of the minivan.

In the midst of my packing fervor, the boys alternately decided to color with markers, spray each other with the hose, fight over Battleship (sending small game pieces all over the kitchen floor for my 14-month-old to pick up), dig out their favorite T-shirts from my careful stacks, spill juice and tromp sand in the kitchen.

What else could I do? I exploded. I used the word pissed.

About four hours later my husband came home to find us all crabby. And the first words out of my 4-year-old's mouth were: "Daddy, what's pissed?"

He looked at me.

Guilty as charged. "He learned it from me," I admitted.

But it's not just the words we use, I've come to see. Our kids watch us intently. They see the way we cope with frustration, the way we treat people we're supposed to love and respect, the dedication we have to our jobs and homes, even the way we take care of our stuff.

As much as it irritates me when my husband leaves dirty socks in the middle of the bedroom floor, I dislike it even more when I see my sons have followed his example.

In my experience, the phrase, "Do as I say and not as I do," just doesn't work.

Leading by example is probably the best possible way to get your children to use good table manners, apply themselves in school and everything in between.

It makes sense that kids with no parental guidance, whatever their socio-economic status might be, often wind up in trouble. They have no one to emulate, or they choose their own role models, who often don't point them in the right direction. 

But for many of us, it almost comes naturally as a parent, doesn't it? A lot of us stop swearing, smoking and spending money on foolish stuff once we have kids. We start going to church again, clip coupons and trade in Saturday nights at the bar for Saturday afternoons at the soccer field.

I've watched myself become more careful, and I keep striving to become a more worthy role model for my three children.

You should have heard my heart sing when my 6-year-old asked me the other day if a movie he wanted to watch was "appropriate" for his age. It almost made up for my teaching his younger brother the word pissed.

Have you noticed your children mimicking you? Have you ever felt like they were holding a mirror up to your face when they said or did something?