Sign the Contract

My wife is a reader, me not so much. When it became apparent that our oldest daughter was going to soon become a teenager, my wife began to read books on how to parent this strange and new to us creature. She would read the books and I would try to read as much as I could. Having her point out the high points helped.

One of the high points was an idea that is very helpful in our goal of turning our young sons into Godly men. I don’t remember the book title or even all the details (I’ll search for it one of these days and get back to you with the specifics.) The gist of it was that we should have goals for our kid’s development. At a specific point in time (birthday, start of school year, New Years day…) parent and growing kid sit down and make the plan for the next year. What are the goals for the year academically, spiritually, socially? What new responsibilities will be given? What new freedoms will be earned? What is the reward when everything has been accomplished? Once all has been decided a contract is created and signed by parents and growing kid.

While I'm not much of a reader I am a really good adapter. I like to use others ideas and adapt them to my situation. We started out with something that went along with the book with our oldest daughter. I will say that the results were somewhat mixed. Along the way it became more adapted to specific situations. I will also have to admit that I have become a little lazy as a parent with my younger kids. I think I could do a better job of fathering if I put a little more effort into this with #s 3 – 5 in planning their growth.

So, how can you adapt this idea for your family? What steps can you map out for the growth of your son to a man? We all need a plan. Sharing our plan with others can help all of us as dads.