BOYS TO MEN................

My son is a talker. I must admit that sometimes his talking is so excessive that I have to tell him to please take a break. Or at least give me a break. LOL! Yesterday morning, as we always do, we were talking as we walked into the school. I don't know exactly how the conversation started, but he made the comment that he was going to teach himself how to be a man. That comment really got my attention. I said to him, "Son, you don't have to teach yourself how to be a man. You have some real men in your life now that will show you". He began to run down the names of those men, and I began to feel proud that he recognizes what a real man is.

A lot of us women, especially women of color believe that we can teach our sons to be men. And granted I believe that for years, we have been left to do so which makes us believe we can. It was a hard pill to swallow for me also, but I now understand that boys need something different that only a man can give them. I too was one who thought that I was super woman and could do it all, even teach my son to be a man. I do believe that some things I teach him about what a woman likes, and things of that nature, no man can really teach him, but the things that really matter, and that will really make a difference in his life as a man, can only be taught by a man. A real man. There are lessons in the things that they've experienced that I will never be able to relay to my son or be able to relate to if/when he experience those same things.

With that being said, my tidbit for today is mainly for the ladies. Ladies, let your boys grow up to be men. I know some may feel slighted by this, but it's all said in love. I'm tired of middle aged boys, and I think the majority of us single women are. I know we feel like we can do it all, but ladies, we can't. If you have a POSITIVE MAN in your life, be it a father, friend, cousin etc., let him be a part of your son's life to teach him things that we can never teach him.

To all the positive men in my life, who've taken the opportunity to teach my son some tidbits about being a man, I say THANK YOU! I cannot do it without you.

Sweet T