Don’t let this title fool you. I don’t mean raising a man that is already grown; a 30, 40 or 50 year old man who should be taking care of his responsibilities. Nor do I mean taking care of a man that is not sick and fully capable of taking care of himself. I am speaking of raising your little Princes. Yes, our sons! Your son is the world’s next man..the world’s next leader. Why not treat them as such?! See, we are not raising kids. We are raising our future!
I had these little pet names for my son and he recently told me, “no, mom!” How devastating! He was growing up. He no longer wanted to be called, “stinka butt.” Shshsh don’t tell him I told! I had to come to grips that it is okay to love, protect, hug and even kiss your son, but do we coddle? Do we let them settle some of their own disputes? With proper guidance and stepping in only when necessary, it is good to let children make some age appropriate decisions and settle their own disputes. I always knew this, but it took me a while to let him settle his own disputes. They were few and far, but the bottom line is I wanted him to be able to solve conflict and get along with others. A book was recommended to me by a friend. That book was “How to Raise an Adult” by Julie Lythcott-Haims. It was a hard reality to realize we might be “over-parenting.” This is the exact word used by the author. It hit home. For that reason alone, it is easy to realize that we are raising raising the world’s next men, adults and leaders. When we remember our sons may be the next CEOs, engineers, entrepreneurs, bankers, educators, and Presidents we certainly help them to thrive with their leadership skills. I am certainly not saying it is okay to stop being a parent. That is never okay. I am simply saying, we are raising men. We need our sons and we need our men.
Kelly Johnson
Raising Little Brown Children 