Great Power, Great Responsibility

When my oldest child was thirteen, my husband began to quote to her, "With great power comes great responsibility," which, for her, meant that being the oldest might have its privileges, but it also had its duties. If she was old enough to travel alone, she was also old enough to share laundry duties. If she was old enough to merit extra computer time, she was old enough to be expected to help her siblings with computer work if necessary. There were many such tradeoffs that were part of the "great power, great responsibility" mantra, and I am happy to report that she quite often embraces both the power and the responsibility.
 
We, as adults, have the "great power" part, well, kind of automatically. Whether we feel powerful or not, somewhere in our lives, we are the powerful ones. Yet, how often do we demand the "great responsibility" of ourselves? How often do we rise above our own needs to focus on the needs of one of our kids? (Okay, well, most of the time. Next!) How many times do we hold ourselves to the standards we set for our children and our coworkers?
 
Fast forward to child number two, who is already hitting the "great power, great responsibility" age (second children do tend to do things sooner, don't they?). She is quickly learning the "great responsibility" part, as I am tough about her making an advance plan (something I am often doing at the very last minute), and tough about her being late because she didn't watch the time (when, way too often, I arrive late from work, late from an event I was enjoying, late from a conversation at the end of a playdate pickup). Wow, this "great responsibility" thing is hard.
 
I'm finding that the power/responsibility dynamic, which you'd think would be the most significant when your kids are small and you are big, is actually even more present as you're trying to teach it to them as they get older. Thankfully, I feel fairly sure that, with some work, my kids will get it. I just hope I do too.