I raise my children to be adults, not kids.

I give them the opportunity to think for themselves and gently guide them when needed, have conversations with them, let them sit in when adults are talking, let them have an opinion, but teach them at the same time to not force their opinion or way of life on to others.

I grew up with "Kids should be seen not heard." "Children can't have an opinion." "Adults are always right." "Because I said so."

I decided to break that cycle.  I'm not perfect and have my times where I fall into this "parenting trap", but I use these times to teach my girls that I am just a human being and that even adults should apologize to children for their wrong doings and mistakes.

Maybe I'm totally screwing this parenting thing up, time will tell. But I can't walk the same path my parents did with me.  And so far it is turning out pretty good.
 

 That's what we're trying to do. It was hard to get to adulthood and realize that our parents did so many things that should have been done differently. Our biggest thing I think is talking about everything and teaching him how to communicate.  

 Nice. Just make sure you stay in parent mode and not friend or buddy mode. 

 Sounds 100% good to me, what you're screwing up is the traditional authoritarian parenting style that has been inflicted upon children since centuries ago.