Lead by example

I hate to screw things up, but inevitably it happens. I have to always stay mindful of what I do, to make sure that the kids don’t pick up any of my bad habits. I just hope that I make it thru the next twenty or so years and don’t mess the kids up to bad. They are little sponges they suck up every little detail. You may not think they are listening but they see and hear all. It may not even be something you say or do in front of them. What we do is all around us

Case in point; Mason is in the bathroom, after a reasonable amount of time, I go to check on him. He has picked up one of my Muscle and Fitness magazines; he is looking at an article about the lingerie bowl. All I can see is half naked women jumping off the pages that are lying on his lap. He looks up at me and I grab the magazine and tell him to rap it up. I close the door and can’t believe what just happened. He’s five! I had no idea that at five he would want to look at some thing like that. Then I start to get a feeling of pride that at least he is not gay. I quickly realize that is not what I should dwell on here. Then I start to feel bad for having something like that in the house. I go in the kitchen and show the magazine to Crista and her eyes bug out, “what’s that!” After a brief explanation to her, my mind starts going into parent mode, about the conversation I was about to have with mason. I don’t want to screw this up. I am not going into the sex talk, but did have to address this issue.

Moments later, there I sit, with a five year old on one knee and a muscle fitness magazine on the other. We discussed respect for women, and unrealistic expectation of what a woman should look like. I also let him know if he wants to look at the magazine again to let me know and I will flip thru it with him.

This whole thing made me think, what else I might do that he could pick up on. Not only is it what I do, but also how I live and who and what I surround my self with. I will continue to try and be a good role model, I learn more everyday. The kids will probable never know everything they taught me.