If you pay attention, you can learn a lot from watching and listening to your children. Sometimes they remind you of lessons you learned as a child. Sometimes they will amaze you by teaching you something brand new. Often they will make you smile. Here are just a few of the lessons I have learned.

1. Life does not always work as you expect.

My daughter has watched movies on DVD since almost the day she was born. When she is watching a program on PBS it seems just like the ones she has on DVD. But when it is over she doesn't understand why she can't watch it again. From her point of view, T.V. on demand is exactly how the world is supposed to work. This lesson hit home for me when I realized that my daughter had a larger DVD collection than I did. I never imagined that family, friends, and grandparents would have purchased so many DVD for a 3 year old girl. We parents have also contributed heavily to the growing collection. What my wife can't understand is how I can enjoy watching my daughters DVD's almost as much as my daughter.

2. Life is often a matter of perspective.

One of her favorite DVD is Winnie the Pooh. Veronica and I decided my daughter might enjoy seeing Winnie the Pooh at the movie theater. With this in mind we decided to take her to see the latest Winnie the Pooh movie (Pooh's Heffalump Movie (2005)). As we entered the theater my daughter exclaims, "Wow!, what a really big T.V.!" By the way, she loved the movie.

3. You can love someone and still not like them.

When my daughter is upset with me she will often tell me, "Daddy, you are not my best friend any more. I don't like you." and yet I know my daughter still loves me. Now when she announces to someone that they are her best friend, I warn them that she can take that away as easily as she gives it.

4. They are listening.

You ever wonder why parents get into the habit of calling each other "mommy" and "daddy"? The reason becomes obvious once you realize that your children mimic what ever you say. As long I call my wife "mom" or "mommy", my daughter does the same. When I called out across the house "Veronica" my daughter starts calling for "Veronica" as well. When this happens I have to explain to my daughter that only daddy calls mommy "Veronica". Angelina accepts this most of the time.

5. Expectations are what count.

I am always fascinated at the unique viewpoints my daughter brings to the otherwise mundane world. She gets into arguments with "Mr. Sun" because she says the sun is shinning in her eye and won't stop like she asked it to. Then she gets upset when Mr. Sun won't come out from behind the clouds so she can see him. Finally when my three-year-old daughter saw the moon during the daytime for the first time she immediately announced to me "Daddy, someone forgot to turn off the moon."

Written by William E. Petersen, author of the blog called DaddyTalk at http://www.daddytalk.blogspot.com William is a father of two children, Angelina who is three and Carlos who is one. He lives with his wife and children in San Antonio, Texas. He can be reached at DaddyTalk@publicist.com