Parenting can be one of the most challenging jobs a person undertakes.  There are many qualities that are necessary to be a good parent.  In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are numerous characters that appear as parental figures.  Atticus is the most important parental figure to Scout because he teaches her critical life lessons, raises her in an unbiased environment, and provides her with unconditional love.
                         Throughout this novel Atticus shows Scout what is important in life by teaching her timely lessons.  Scout, at the age of six, is beginning to make observations and judgments of others.  Atticus wants Scout to think about things from a perspective other than her own.  He tells her, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb in his skin and walk around in it" (34).  Atticus believes that without realizing a person's situation it is impossible to determine anything significant about them.  If Scout decides to follow his advice she will be less likely to make rash negative opinions about others and will be more empathic to everyone around her.  After Jem, her brother, went back to the Radley house to retrieve his pants, he was very quiet the rest of the week.  Scout chooses to follow the teaching of her father.  "I tried to climb into Jem's skin and walk around in it: if I had gone alone to the Radley Place at two in the morning, my funeral would have been the next afternoon" (62).  By "climbing into Jem's skin" Scout is beginning to look at things from his perspective.  As Scout matures, she puts herself in many other characters' places, such as Boo Radley, Mayella Ewell, and Tom Robinson.  Atticus effectively teaches her the lesson of empathy.  Another important lesson that Atticus teaches Scout is that of "real courage."  Scout, along with her brother Jem, ha...