Friday, January 09, 2009

My Boy

Last night was The Boy's Winter concert at school. It was on the stage, under the lights in the auditorium and everything!!! He's in both choir and band this year...I was so proud of him last year when he told me he was going to stick with band and give choir a change. He was THE best dressed young man last night....

I've been working on old scrapbook pages of him and it amazes me how grown up he's beginning to look. Then I remember that yes, he is 12 and in middle school now, that's the way he's suppose to look. He's growing into a teenager with all the challenges and perks that comes with it and I have to continue to remind myself that at this point in his life I need to be his cheerleader and give him the support and encouragement he needs to make this transition. I need to step back and allow The Daddy to be more of the discipline enforcer and role model in his life. Not that I am relinquishing my mother duties, but I figure if I continue to mommy the baby, then it will be harder for him to grow into the man he is to become. I need to let him fall, and get back up on his own, I need to let him see the world through his eyes and decide the path that he wants to travel, I need to give him more opportunities to figure out his role in this family and among his peer and I need to encourage and be supportive of positive, healthy friendships and continue to nurture those friendships. He's an amazing kid with a sweet, soft heart. He longs to fit in, he doesn't understand the reasons kids act the way they do, he is different and he sees that. When kids at school tell him he'll never have a girlfriend, it just breaks his heart. Not that he wants one right now, just that his peers have so little faith in the him. I just hope and pray that the love and support we can give him here in this home and the awesome friendships that he does have will be enough and I hope and pray that there comes a time where he doesn't care that he isn't "part of the crowd" and learns to deeply appreciates the good friends he does have, no matter how many or how few. I want him to be comfortable in his own skin, and proud of who he is. I wish that other kids could see it, but it's their loss. What a privilege it is of mine to be his #1 fan and cheerleader and to be the one who gets see deep into his heart and see the boy that he is and have a glimpse of the man he will become....

2 comments:

Sarah said...

Okay, first of all - you look like his sister and not his mother :)

Second, why wouldn't he have a girlfriend? He's a little stud lol. Anyway, just tell him that guys like him are the ones that the college girls go crazy for, and THOSE are the important ones.

He looks so grown up, even from just this past summer.

jen said...

Even though my kiddos are so young, I'm already pep-talking myself about the whole, I-have-to-let-them-make-their-own-mistakes-so-they-can-learn thing...terrifying, but they have to be their own persons!!