Hearing your little sister repeat a word she learned from you is a reminder that you’re always teaching something.

Teaching happens whether or not you intend it. Younger people copy tone, habits, the way you talk about yourself and what you treat as acceptable, and they do it without announcing it, which is why a repeated word is such a jolt. You do not get to choose whether you are an example, only which one.

Pick one thing you would be glad to see copied and do it on purpose this week, around whoever is watching: how you lose, how you talk about your own body, how you treat somebody serving you. Skip the speech. The behaviour is the lesson.