My baby turned 16 this week, so it seems like a good time to look back at all the things I've learned about parenting.

Since both of my angels are perfect in every way, you'll want to take notes.

Obviously I'm kidding, but a 16th birthday is definitely one of those milestones that cause people to look back a little and ask, "How exactly did we get here?"

I have no clue. I can say my wife and I are blessed to have two happy, healthy, seemingly well-adjusted children, despite my best efforts. Someone once said you won't really know how well adjusted your children are until they raise their own children.

Yikes.

I remember a day way back when, about a month before my oldest was born, when I was overcome by crippling panic at the thought that I had no idea how to teach a child to read. Or to ride a bike. It was like I had to know how to do everything all at once.

Thankfully, that's not how it works. You are given plenty of time to learn how to be a parent. That doesn't mean you'll get it right, of course.

I guess a lot of parents would like to have a do-over or two.

Sometimes we overthink, like the time my son asked me what thunder was. I prattled on for 20 minutes before realizing his question was the opening line of joke. Not the first time I've been a buzzkill for someone's joke.

Sometimes we don't think enough or don't think things through. When our family pet became ill years ago, we shooed off the kids and made the decision to put her down without involving them, thinking we were protecting them. I wish I had that one over.

One of the soundest pieces of advice I got about parenting came from Bill Cosby's book "Fatherhood." He wrote that if you make a promise, keep it. If you promise a reward for good behavior, deliver the reward, he wrote. But, and this is the point some of us miss, if you promise a punishment, you better deliver that too, even if it is delayed because you are out of town, he wrote.

That's not easy. Let's say you've had a great day, but when you pick the child up from daycare you learn that she did in fact punch Little Timmy in the eye -- again. Your baby greets you at the door with a big smile and hug and now you have to go home and punish her.

We learned fairly early on also not to promise punishments that either could not be delivered or that backfired on us. For example, threatening to put a child to bed at 6 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. simply ensures you have to endure two hours of heartache for everyone and you've made bedtime a bad thing.

Trust me, you want bedtime to be a happy thing.

E-mail Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com