Moms of Boys: Leading By Example

We are all trying to raise our boys to be decent, hard working, respectable young men.  Well, most of us.  Some moms are just trying to raise them not to fart in public, belch the national anthem at the ball game, and not to become serial killers.  That's okay too.  We all need to have attainable goals.  I don't judge.

Some moms of boys do though.  They judge everyone, and harshly.  I get it!  Our little boys will always be our little boys.  We want them to stay that way.  We want to keep them young, innocent, and fun  loving.  We want them to have some form of a moral compass to follow.  Most of all we want them to be respectful of and courteous to women.

Me and my sweet boys

"Respectful of and courteous to women." is the key phrase here.

How do our boys learn how to be respectful of other women?  That's simple.  Their mothers teach them.  I find it funny though.  Why? you ask.  Well, because women don't seem to know how to be respectful and courteous of each other. 

We are their mothers.  We are their example of how to act toward one another.  Yet, we are always talking down to, being critical of, or judging each other on every move we make.  Then we wonder why men are such jerks.  We give them the example.  We show them how to treat us.  They have learned to treat women by watching how women treat each other.  This isn't fair to our children.  It is not fair for us to raise them to see all of the hate women spew toward one another, and then scold them when they mistreat a women.  

We all need to stop, take a deep breath, and take a good hard look at ourselves.  We need to watch our mouths when we harshly and openly judge other women. No matter the age.  We need to watch how we talk about young girls as well.  Little snarky comments can be misconstrued by young boys.  Sometimes we don't even realize we are making them because it comes so naturally to us.  Woman gossip, and whisper, they give cruel or hateful looks, and demeaning glances. We shun each other when we disagree.  We comment on clothes, hair, nails, makeup, money, houses, cars, who has the smarter, more gifted or cuter kid. We do all of this without thinking about the effect we are having on our young boys.  

We should stop doing this in front of them.  We should be more aware.  We should realize that raising boys is a HUGE responsibility.  We turn our boys into men, and if we do it wrong, there will always be those moms of girls out there judging us.  So, let's open our lives up to understanding, compassion, forgiveness, kind words, loving hearts, and SECOND CHANCES.  Lord knows, we all make wretched mistakes, an we will all continue to do so.  We will all slip up.  Let's try to learn from our mistakes, and pass that wisdom on. Let's stop telling young men how to treat women, and start teaching them, and leading by example.  Let's SHOW them how we want to be treated.  

I'm not just a mom of boys, I am a mom a a little girl, who will one day meet, fall in love, and marry one of your little boys, and I can't stand the thought of her calling me crying that she married a "jerk".  I also can't stand the thought of raising one of those "jerks".  

My Princess deserves a Prince, and I owe it to other mothers of girls to
make sure my boys are not the frog to their princess. 

Let's be teammates, NOT opponents!

I love my boys!