Raising a boy...

The past few weeks I have been thinking a lot about how we are going to raise our son. I have been thinking about how the way that one boy is raised has the potential to effect so many people forever. Ever since we found out that we were going to have a boy, I have thought a lot about this. I think I was worried that I would not know how to relate to a boy's thoughts and actions and therefore have a hard time raising a son the way that God wants us to. The wonderful news is that I don't need to know exactly what to do in every situation. If I let God lead how I parent then he will be raised the way that God wants him to be. The bad news is that I am human and know that I have the potential to mess that up big time. So I know that I will always need to work at it.

Dan and I both realize now what amazing parents we had growing up. Our homes were filled with so much love. Things may not have always been perfect, and we both have regrets about how we treated others, but their is no doubt in our minds that our parents did a great job raising us. We have talked about many of the things that we would like to do just like they did, and a few things that we would change. I am SO forever thankful to my in-laws for how they raised my husband. He has so many of the qualities that are so important to me. I know that is because of the examples he had in his parents. I know that how he treats me came from hours of hard work put in to teach him how women should be treated. We both have parents that prayed for us day in and day out. I don't know if they can see the reward of their hard work yet, but I really believe that what they did for us (and our siblings) will have a large effect on the world forever. It shapes how we will raise our son and how he and his wife will one day raise their children.

When I was pregnant I did a lot of reading on raising our son the way God wants him to be raised. Dan and I talked a lot about how we would handle disciplining. I have always thought that I will be so grateful if his wife is as thankful for his childhood as I am for Dan's. I know that God had a great plan when he had Dan and I meet and become friends so young. I think that by sending Dan my way God protected me from a lot of trouble that I may have otherwise gotten into when I was a teenager. Anyway, all this to say that I was going through some of the things that I had written or copied about raising boys when I was pregnant. I thought I would share a few of the quotes that I loved on here.

"What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give." -P.D. James 

"When you teach your son, you teach your son's son." -The Talmud

"Only marry someone if you would be proud to have a son that grows up to be just like them." -unknown



"Whenever I held my newborn baby in my arms, I used to think that what I said and did to him could have an influence not only on him but on all whom he met, not only for a day or a month or a year, but for all eternity - a very challenging and exciting thought for a mother." -Rose Kennedy