Raising adults

We are not raising babies.

Nor is it our goal to create children, is it?

Moms are given the task of providing the world with people who are ready to take on its challenges, who will behave with compassion and decency, and never give up.

We have, in our homes, the adults of tomorrow.

The old show Little Rascals was filled with mothers who admonished their sons to eat their oatmeal so that they could grow up and be President.

Now I don't particularly care if my Little Man wants to become POTUS.

Totally up to him.

Although I do give him his Herbalife kid's shake so that he can get his nutrients and feel healthy.

But I am responsible to give him the tools to at least be a gentleman.

So when we are getting out of the car and need to get the groceries inside, I will encourage any interest he shows in helping me unload since daddy is at work and can't help right now...

And if at 18 months old he can get excited about being able to carry mustard and a loaf of bread, then maybe as a young man he will be carrying all of our groceries without being told.

We want him to be a man's man.

Now that might mean that he loves contact sports and hunting, or it might mean that he plays in an orchestra and likes cooking.

But as a man, he will take responsibility for himself in this world, show responsible and kind leadership to the family God may give him, and work with excellence no matter what his profession.

How will he learn all of that if, in my mind, my only job is to just get a toddler to obey.

When set in light of the adult responsibilities he will be given, then teaching him to submit to reasonable authority, control his emotions, and being kind to others are not just optional lessons of the day.

They are what every adult must know, so Little Man must learn them, too.