Parenting is not crazy difficult, but it's pretty much transferring a big load of your ways of living and your personal values to the child. Your child is not a clone of you, though, and will rebel against you on many occasions and will do things differently than you do, or differently from what you want.
However, best ways of making sure your child will grow up decent is living properly yourself. It's your ways he or she will learn from. Not only from those things, but if you live well and except your child to live well too, it usually goes ok.
At least this is what I hope. When my son will grow up, I'll most likely see I was completely wrong.