Raising Boys to Lead

I had two boys before my daughter was born. I really thought there was a strong possibility I would only have boys. When I was younger I always pictured myself with girls, pretty clothes, and ponytails.

However when they put my first son in my arms I knew my life would NEVER be the same. I was totally in love with this beautiful boy with deep dimples like his mom. During the second pregnancy I found out in a routine ultrasound that I would be giving birth to another son and I just couldn’t believe it. I seemed destined to be the mom of boys and I was very excited!

What an awesome responsibility my husband and I (and every parent of boys) have in raising these boys into men. We live in a time and place that has devalued men. All we have to do is turn on our TV, watch a movie or even pick up a book and see what the world thinks of men. Our culture has robbed them of true leadership, courage, and often vision. How this must grieve God’s heart. I believe it is why we see very little leadership and vision in our leaders and even in our churches at times.

What can we do to stop this?

Can we stop it?

I believe we can but it won’t be easy. We need to work to change generations of men so they can become Godly leaders that HE made them to be.

When you are the parents of boys you have the power to raise them in a way that can make a difference in a culture that needs it so badly. We can teach our young boys what it is like to be a gentleman, how to really love a woman, and how to be the fathers God intended them to be.

Some practical things that can help you in preparing your boys to be great men:

*We can’t do this alone. We need God’s help and that means we need to be praying for our sons. There is so much in this culture fighting for their hearts and minds and none of it is any good, we need to be bathing them in prayer on a constant level.

*I love for my boys to have access to great books. It is great to have a great list of biographies and stories of strong leaders of our past. It is wonderful for them to read stories that tell of men who had vision, courage, and dreams that went past their own desires.

*Teach them how to be gentlemen to women at a young age. I was out shopping with my 13 year old son at Christmas and my son opened the door for the lady behind us. She was shocked.  She said, “wow, you don’t see that anymore, Mama you have raised him right.” I was grateful for her compliment but also felt a little sad, she stated she could not remember the last time a teen had opened a door for her.

Chivalry is lost but it shouldn’t be, especially among God’s children.

*Keep your computers protected. We can’t keep everything out of our boy’s eyes (bad things are EVERYWHERE) but we can put filters on our computers, know what our boys are watching on tv and what they are reading. Teach them to divert their eyes at a young age from things that are inappropriate. I started teaching my sons this when they were young and I will now see my 13 year old look away when something comes across his path that he shouldn’t see. You can’t guard them from everything because it is everywhere. Billboards, commercials, sports games, in our culture it is everywhere. You can however teach them to look away from it, you want Godly men who preserve their hearts and their eyes for their future wife. Guard their hearts especially while they are young. There are so many statistics that prove boys that have been exposed at young ages to sexual explicit pictures and other things, have such a high chance of becoming addicted in their adult lives.

*Respect your husband! Honor him and love him. Hopefully you have a loving husband that will help in raising Godly sons but even if you don’t, don’t lose heart. The Lord will help you if you ask! There are many Godly women that have raised some of our greatest ministers, song writers and missionaries without the help of a Christian husband. It will take dedication, hard work and most of all PRAYER but it can be done!

We can’t save our boys, only God can, but we can pray that HE gives us wisdom in bringing up the next generation of leaders; it is quite an honor to be raising our sons for the Lord.

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