Word Of The Day

Respect - To take notice of; to regard with special attention; to regard as worthy of special consideration; hence, to care for; to heed. (from Webster Dictionary)

My hubby and I work with our boyos everyday teaching them the values that we as human beings should have. We explain to them the whys and whats and hows then send them out into the world hoping beyond hope that they take those lessons with them.

I've always heard, and we all know it's true, that kids behave differently around their parents than they do away from their parents. We know it happens. We just hope it's small stuff they're doing.

Today is Awards Assembly Day at my boyos school. I always give them the same speech every Awards Assembly day. It goes something like "Sit quitely, listen, don't fidget, don't play with any awards you might win. I'll be there and yes, I'll be watching." And I end it with a few stern looks. Sound harsh? Yeah, maybe. But when I get there and I see my boyo behaving while a kid a few seats away from him stands up and walks around then starts yelling that he needs to go get a drink and while the teacher is trying to get him to calm down he starts tell her she's not his mom...I think to myself...Man, am I glad that kid isn't mine.

We've all seen little terrors kids while we've been out somewhere, fussing, back talking, throwing fits. The parents of said terrors kids all red faced and trying their hardest to drag the little dear out of the store or giving into the tantrum to shut the little dear up.

When I'm getting on to my boyos and they back talk me or give me some sass, I remind them about respect. My hubby and I have worked hard to make sure our boyos respect their elders. That means all adults. All of them. You may not like it, you may, in fact, detest it. But as a youth you're expected to give all elders your respect.

My boyos know this. They aren't perfect, no one is, but for the most part they do good. Almost every time we're out we get comments about how good our boyos are. You don't have to threaten them to get them to be good, you just have to start teaching them what is expected of them at an early age.

As a mom of three boys, I tend to be strict. But I'm trying to raise future men, not overgrown boys.