I want my sons, according to their respective ages, to…

• Say YES to opportunities even if they involve risk or if they involve venturing into the unknown, learning new things, and breaking unhelpful habits.
• I want them to say YES especially if the opportunities involve meeting new people and people other than those with whom they’d usually mix.
• Say YES to opportunities to travel, to serve, and to build and to assist in mending broken places.
• Say YES to reading new ideas and to writing responses to them.
• Say YES when they encounter opportunities to offer hospitality.
• Say NO to toxic secrets, to behavior that judges or excludes others.
• Say NO to religious teachings that limit their capacities for generosity and for freedom.
• Say NO to anything that will potentially delay their formal education no matter how appealing or adventurous the idea may be.
• Say NO to those who disrespect them or encourage them to treat the adults around them with anything less than utmost respect and close-to-perfectly good manners.
• Say NO to those who dismiss their ideas and who treat them as a means toward their disclosed or undisclosed ends.

Posted on January 18, 2018 at 12:05 pm in Blended families, Boundaries, Children, Communication, Differentiation, Difficult Relationships, Education, Faith, Family Systems Theory, Friendship, Grace   |  RSS feed |   Reply   |   Trackback URL