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EksAyn Anderson.

Courtesy EksAyn Anderson

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The cover for “What I Want My Children to Know Before I Die.”

Courtesy EksAyn Anderson

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Author EksAyn Anderson, an Alpine resident, believes that parents have the most important career in the world.

“A lot of times, people discount how much influence they have as parents. Sometimes being a stay-at-home mom or a stay-at-home dad or a stay-at-home parent is looked down on by the world because it’s just not supposedly that cool,” he said.

Anderson’s mother passed away on May 7, 1986, when he was just 8 years old. Although Anderson’s children will never know their grandmother, they feel her influence through Anderson and his parenting choices.

“The little things she did affected me, which is affecting her grandchildren, and I think it’s going to go on for generations,” Anderson said.

Anderson’s latest book, “What I Want My Children to Know Before I Die,” tells the story of his mother’s passing, and contains advice for his children. Advice he hopes readers can also benefit from.

Specifically, Anderson reminds readers that the most important work a parent can do is with their children. He says that while their time as members of the workforce may not have a lasting impact, their time as parents will impact generations to come.

“The influence that a parent has is going to be way bigger than say a CEO,” Anderson said. “Here’s the bad news, everything that you and I do for work, our great-great grandkids aren’t going to care, but the kind of parents we were will still affect them.”

Anderson argues that not only do the big decisions parents make, like where to live, affect future generations to come, but the small parenting choices leave just as strong of a mark.

“Were they mean? Were they patient? Were they checked in and a good parent, or not,” he said. “Those same kinds of attributes can be passed down quietly, nobody kind of sees them because they’re invisible, but they’re still real.”

Ultimately, Anderson hopes his new book will empower parents and help them to realize what an important role they play.

“If I do it right I really can inspire my children and generations to come… you can do things that really really make a difference in the world,” he said.

“What I Want My Children to Know Before I Die” is currently available on Amazon, and Anderson expects it to be available in bookstores in the coming weeks.

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