Becoming a Man

Over the last year I have been away from home on two different occasions. As many of you know Amy and I have four kids, 3 girls and 1 boy. Each time I have been away I used it as an opportunity to help my one son, Noah to become a man. One of my desires for Noah is that he becomes a responsible young man and that he also becomes chivalrous. I want him to know that it is a good and honorable thing to take care of women and to serve them. Even at the young age of six I want him to know that he has a responsibility to his family to care for them.

Each time before I left I had a conversation with Noah about his responsibility to the women of the house while I was gone. That because I was gone he was now the man of the house and it was his job to make life easier for everyone else and to serve the girls. As I shared this with him I took time to tell him what this looked like. I even asked him what he thought it meant and how this looked. To my surprise Noah had a really good idea of what it meant. As I wrapped up the conversation with him I told him that I would be asking him how it was going and how he was taking care of the family when I talked with him on the phone.

Noah is growing into a fine young man! Both times he took his role very seriously and did more than usually around the house to help Amy and his sisters. These are a couple of the things that represent how Noah took on the responsibility. When Amy was doing laundry he would carry the basket of clothes for his her. He also took on the responsibility of collecting all the trash and wheeling the 96 gallon trash bin out to the road. Noah isn’t that big yet so that is quite the job. A final example is the 10 foot bundle of sticks that he dragged to the road after his grandpa cleaned up one of our bushes. I am so proud of Noah and the servant he is becoming.

After each trip I made sure that I got him something that represented the young man he was becoming and to let him know that I was proud of how he stepped up to help his mom and sisters. This fall when I was in Seattle I picked up a sheriff’s badge for him, which he still keeps by his bed. This time while I was in England I decided to get him a Swiss Army Knife. To all those worried that I got him a knife at six, don’t be. The knife is made to be dull so that he can’t hurt himself. My prayer is that these small gifts will remind him of the man his is becoming!