Raising a Boy to Be a Manಮಾದರಿ

Raising a Boy Who Honors Women

Sitting on the couch watching a sitcom with my son, we came across a familiar scene. A father and son were on the beach when a beautiful girl walked by in a barely there bikini. The two guys’ heads turned in unison to follow the girl down the boardwalk. Moments later, the scene was interrupted when the father, with his mouth still wide open, was slapped on the head with a beach towel by his wife.

“It served him right!” I exclaimed with all the annoyance I could muster. It was bad enough that the son acted like that, but the father too!? My son needed to know such behavior was not acceptable.

He sees where my eyes go and hears the words I say, whether out loud or muttered under my breath. My son is always watching me. We never shared “Atta boy” jokes about being a “stud” or gawk at pretty girls behind his mother’s back. I don’t ever want him to catch me disrespecting his mother or condoning other men when they dishonor women, either.

Boys will be boys unless we train them to be men.

A son’s first and most powerful lesson about honoring women comes by observing the way his father treats his mother.

What lessons is your son learning? What can you do to show him how to honor the women in his life?