If you read my blog on a somewhat regular basis you’ve probably caught on to the fact that I love my kids. They are the best parts of me. My entire life revolved around them in those early years. How can it not? But as they grew, I grew too, and part of the growing was letting go…
My oldest son (and middle child) is moved out a few days ago. But you know that, right? No? You can read about it here: My son is leaving the nest.
Thoughts of how to raise a boy have been flashing through my mind, especially these last few days that my son is still living under the same roof as me.
I came across this post from Your Modern Dad entitled 10 Rules to Raising the Man You Want Your Son to Be. I loved this line in his post: Becky & I just want the best of both worlds. We are trying to raise men that are both gentle, yet strong.
Who could ask for a better son than one who is gentle and kind, yet strong?
Are we raising our boys to be like that? Did I?
Times have changed. I’m not saying that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It’s just a thing. A fact. I’m sure the same could be said for any generation. How to raise a boy is not any different today than it was a hundred years ago, and yet, it kinda is.
It occurred to me as I was reading Your Modern Dad’s post that the 10 rules he listed could be applied to raising children period. Because kindness, gentleness, loving, honest, loyal and there for you traits aren’t gender-focused, in this non-gender- focused age in which we live. These are character traits I want all my kids to have, my sons and my daughter.
So how to raise a son really just boils down to raising a person who is a well-rounded human being. A person with a good sense of self, yet not selfish.
A person who is kind, yet not a push-over.
A person who is thoughtful, yet has the ability to say “No” when that is the best thing to say.
A person who is gentle, yet strong.
A person who understands the value of relationships.
And I could go on.
I won’t.
I will end this post by telling you that Your Modern Dad has a lot of good stuff on his blog.
And…my youngest child and other son is leaving for an internship in Europe in May for the summer. You can bet there will be more posts like this…
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