Living in a house with 2 teen boys and a tween girl has truly proven to be interesting to say the least. My husband and I are having the time of our lives enjoying each other and raising our kids. No more babies to run behind, no butts to wipe but trust me our job as parents is far from over. Parenting is job that never ends, even when they’re grown and gone. LOL Well, my boys are now 14 & 16 and they both bought Valentine gifts for their “friend’s”. I have to admit I was a little sad at first because it’s a clear sign that my babies are no longer babies. I’ve known it for quite sometime now but every time they do something like this it just reminds me that they are truly growing up.
Anyway, my 14 year old son bought this $20 stuffed animal and I was like NO! Then I realized it was his money so I let it go. His first thought was to have his brother walk with him to the girls house and give it to her…wrong answer. I told him that he needed to ask for permission to come over and if it was ok to give her a gift in the first place. Plus, I needed to meet the parents and I wanted them to know who my son was and that he comes from a good home. I know some of you may think this is a little extreme but I don’t, you’ll understand later. We got the green light so hubby and I jumped in the car and took him over….kicking and screaming because he didn’t want his lame parents to go. We got there and he handed her the bear and she smiled with this big kool aid grin and then the awkward silence. I asked her to go and get her mother. Now mind you, they have been knowing each other since first grade and I worked at there elementary school so I have met her parents on several occasions. When she stepped to the door and immediately recognized me, she and I both were relieved. So we chatted on the porch (yeah, that’s the furthest we got) and the kids just kept looking at each other not saying a word!!! LOL
Now on to my 16 year old son. He also bought his “friend” a valentine. It was a stuffed bear holding a big red heart that read “I love you!” Hmmm… So again he wants to make the delivery and again I told him that I would take him because I wanted to meet her and her parents and I wanted them to meet my son. The two went to middle school together and now different high schools so they don’t get to see each other often. They met up in the mall twice and once they asked to meet at the park and then the movies I was like wait a minute. My son made the call and mom said it was fine to come. We get there and his friend came to the door with this huge grin on her face. Her mom came up behind her and said well let them in. LOL We stepped in and my son handed her the bear and she handed him some chocolates and they HUGGED!!!!!!!!! Her mom and I introduced ourselves and shook hands. She offered us a seat and we had a wonderful conversation. She asked my son what were his plans after high school and I did the same. They both seem to know what they want to do. She held onto that bear as it was the most valuable thing in her possession. We only stayed for a short while and then we were off.
The moral of this story is to make sure you raise your boys right. I’m putting out something positive in the universe so that it comes back to me when our daughter comes of age. The reason we did it this way was to teach them to respect young women and their parents. I don’t think a young man should just roll up to a girls house unannounced and hand her a gift not knowing if her parents allow her to accept gifts from boys yet. We sure don’t want some knucklehead to pop up at our house for our daughter that way. I could tell it was a shock to the their parents when we did it that way but once I explained why we did it they were both very appreciative and grateful. Wouldn’t you be? We are raising our sons to be respectful and to do things the right way and raising our daughter to expect nothing less. I guess we’ll soon be watching them drive off going on their first date or prom but before that happens we have to train them up right! Our job is not to just raise them from boys to men but respectable men!
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