Raising Boys

These past few days I have been thinking a lot about the enormous task of raising boys. I’m sure that raising girls is equally difficult, but I don’t have girls right now so I am going to choose not to worry about that. 

The other night Brian took the boys on a walk while I finished making dinner, I’m not entirely sure how the walk went except that when they came home Michael was crying and demanding Brian carry his bike. Brian said they had a conversation along the way about how Michael needed to be “tough” and finish the walk or carry his own bike. That got the wheels in my head turning,  how do we raise “tough” boys that are also kind, generous, and caring. My boys have a great dad as an example, but because I am a worrywart I want to know what else we can do to help them. I want to raise boys that turn into men. What do I mean by that? I want to raise boys that shoulder their responsibility, work hard, provide for their families, and live the faith that they have been taught. 

Last week I reached the part of the Book of Mormon that talks about the 2000 stripling warriors. This is one of my favorite stories from the Book of Mormon, not just because of the faith of the young men, but because it shows what the influence of righteous mothers can do. In Alma 58:47-48 it reads:

47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

 48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

Every time I read this chapter I am encouraged. I am encouraged to try harder, I am encouraged that the simple acts of faith that we engage in daily will someday help them start to build their own testimonies. 

Despite the encouragement I received from those verses I am still worried, still concerned about what else we can do to raise our boys. The other night as I was lying their worrying it came to me- we have the privilege of hearing from modern day prophets, and twice a year they specifically address the priesthood of the church… so I started listening to talks from the General Priesthood Session. I came across one that I loved titled “Let Us Be Men” by Elder D. Todd Christofferson. In the talk Elder Christofferson says 

“Though he will make some sacrifices and deny himself some pleasures in the course of honoring his commitments, the true man leads a rewarding life. He gives much, but he receives more, and he lives content in the approval of his Heavenly Father. The life of true manhood is the good life.” 

This is what I want my boys to be. Oh I am sure the road to get them there will be riddled with frustration on all our parts, but we are going to do our best to raise men instead of boys.  So to the girls these boys will eventually marry, just know we tried. We tried to teach them how to be strong and faithful, how to lead, how to provide, how to respect, and how to listen. We did try, and we are going to cross our fingers and toes and pray like crazy that 25 years from now these two crazy munchkins aren't boys but men.