The following few posts come from a book by Orison Swett Marden titled, "The Secret of Achievement." I posted a few pieces from it regarding rearing children that I like. Working with men in recovery, I find few that were truly invested in by their parents. There are exceptions, but they are few. Most are diamonds in the rough and ooze with potential but have had little mentoring. 

  "A boy has been likened to a hundred weight of good iron, which, in its ordinary form, may not be worth more than a dollar; but, when carbonized into steel, it is worth twice as much; when made into inch screws, a hundred dollars; if drawn into fine wire, five hundred dollars; if changed into fine needles, a thousand dollars; if into small fishhooks, twenty-five hundred dollars; if into minutest watch-screws, three hundred thousand dollars; if into finest hairsprings, one million, five hundred thousand dollars, or sixty times the value of an equal weight of gold. The higher the development, the more hammering, beating, rolling, pounding, and polishing, the more valuable the iron becomes.”