Impacting Our Sons

Last night I attended a Mother's of Boy's Conference held at our church. Did you read that...Mother's of Boys! :) I was ready and eager to go so I could get some pointers as to how to raise our son. The topic was "preparing him for the other woman". The more I sat, the more I absorbed, the more I absorbed the more panicked I became! I know the responsibilities of raising our girls, and I also know we need to do better in some areas as we prepare and train them. Now with a new gender coming into our house I asked God, "do you really think we can do this?" The responsibilities of parenting I take seriously and the perfectionism I struggle with causes me to panic. The impact a mother can make on her son is great...I just never knew how great that was!

The points that were discussed last night were - how we are to teach our boys how to -

1. Be a hero. How they we need to get their minds going at a young age throughout their lifetime how to look for someone to go and help. This trains them to be that hero in their wives life.
2. Be passionate. Have them be part of different ministries with us, so they can learn to be sensitive for those around them. This will teach them to have that compassion and empathy for their wives.
3. Know the heart of a women. Teach them how women are wired more tender and sensitive, this is how God created us. This teaches them when they see their wife full of emotions they will know it is normal, and not seek a way out.
4. Validate their feelings. With so much male bashing being taught through the media and around us, we need to recognize their feelings and talk them through it so they will grow sensitive to other feelings.
5. Express love. We need to be an example of this - in our marriages and with our sons. The sweet things we tell our sons, they will tell their wives.
6. Care about God's will. We need to direct their minds to God's will each day so they know when they are older to look for His guidance.
7. Settle conflicts. Hold our sons accountable for what they say, and to not make excuses. When Mom & Dad are arguing, stop and ask our son to pray for us as he is dismissed. Constantly ask him to pray for different situations, so he learns to resolve a conflict you need to start with God.
8. Fight for his friendships. We need to prepare and teach them how to handle imperfect people and to pray continuously, recognizing God first. As our sons mother, we need to also honor their friendships...greet their friends, build relationships.
9. Honor women. In order to teach we need to acknowledge..be their cheerleaders, recognize and be thankful for when they do open a door for us. Also we need to demand their respect. We need to date our sons! We need to use this opportunity to train them how to open a door for a woman, pull their chair out, order for them at a restaurant...but also to hold a conversation.
10. Be a Man of His word. Hold him accountable for what our sons say. Have them follow through with the commitment or promise they have made.
11. Accountable and pure. Set our homes as a place of peace because our sons are tempted everywhere they look. (Advertising uses half dressed women to sell their products). We need to pray purity over them, as well as start praying for their wives. Be an influence at what kind of a wife they should be looking for. And when he is tempted, teach him to pray for his wife at that time.
12. Be the provider. Have our sons participate with the family budget at age 13 so they learn how they are to provide and take care of the family. Have them think about their dreams.
13. Be the spiritual leader of the home. Have our sons start reading the Word to us. Have them pray over us or for different situations.

So much to learn, so much I want to instill in our son. So much more I need to turn to God with. I am in agreement with the speaker (Sheri Rose Shepherd) - if we impact our sons to train them to be the Godly leaders they are to be in their home...think of the impact of our families heritage as well as our society.

I encourage you to either check out her website for training helps or go to Focus on the Family's website. (Links posted in the link section.) There is a book titled "preparing him for the other woman", the conference last night was recorded and will be available to purchase. We need to start investing in our families so we can impact this nation.

http://www.hisprincess.com/

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/