don’t call my son the man of the house
Please don’t call my ten-year-old son “the man of the house”.
He is not.
Currently – we simply have no man of the house.
And that’s terrible.
Tragic. Not right. Wrong. Not the plan. Incorrect. Broken.
But all of those truths do not make my ten-year-old son anything except a ten-year-old boy.
He is not more a man now. He is not a grown up.
He is not capable of bearing the weight of being the “man of the house”.
I don’t want that for him.
I want him to be a ten-year-old boy.
I want him to think about starting fires outside at the fire pit. I want him to climb trees. I want him to go fishing and to think of science projects from our kitchen supplies. I want him to grow up to be a man, but I do not want him to be a man yet.
He is not the man of this house.
Sure, it’s just a phrase.
And a phrase commonly offered not to offend, but perhaps to encourage him or to put a positive spin on a difficult situation or some other such naive and basically well-intentioned thought.
But, just the same, it’s a phrase I don’t want to embrace or invite or to place upon my son.
8 Comments
d powell
Could not of said it better myself..
Rachel
My brother hated that phrase growing up. Hugs….
Boyd
I agree.Thanks for sharing. It’s an easy trap, saying the wrong thing with right intentions. I suppose that is why Proverbs warns about careless use of the tongue. I know I have found myself in situations where I would have been better of if I had ( to apply the carpenters rule to conversation) ” Thought Twice, Spoke Once”.
laceykeigley
Think twice, speak once.
That’s advice I should heed more often myself.
Sara
Such Truth.
In so many situations I find the tendency-my own, as well as others’-is to fill empty space with words when we are uncomfortable. And often those words are unintentionally hurtful.
Oh Holy Spirit,
Set a guard over my tongue.
Help me heal rather than wound with my words.
Lacey-and all who have been wounded in this way-
Continue to be brave and teach us healing words.
So much love.
laceykeigley
Yes – it is our tendency to fill the space with words. I am trying to back away from that in my own life – even with my kids. Especially with my kids. To just try to be quiet.
Nikkie
Thank you for speaking this out loud.
I stand with you on this.
Exactly my thoughts.
love you friend.
Tab
This could not have been said better! That is exactly right. It will, at times, feel that way to him naturally. He needs to be free to enjoy just being a boy.
God just keeps pouring wisdom over you.