The Best Advice I Ever Heard - The Men They Will Become
I had become a father, and I had no idea what I was doing. As the nurse prepared our newborn son, David, to go home with us, I said, “I can’t believe you’re so irresponsible as to send this defenseless baby home with us.” She laughed. “You’ll be fine. Besides, he knows how to tell you what he needs.”
It was the beginning of a lifelong journey that, two years later, would include a sidekick when David’s little brother, Mark, joined the mix. I remember wondering if I was up to my new role and how I could raise the boys to become great men—not men of stature or prominence, but men of character, integrity and positive influence.
At six pounds, thirteen ounces, David was, in effect, like a lump of clay—clay that Karen and I could, to some degree, shape. There was only one problem: Instructions were not included. A few years later, when our sons were toddlers, I stumbled across a piece of advice that served as a guiding principle to help us raise them. It was a simple yet powerful twelve-word adage: “Always treat your children like the adults they are capable of becoming.”
As the father of two sons, I modified it to: “Always treat your sons like the men they are capable of becoming.” This advice spoke volumes to Karen and me about what really matters in life and about being intentional in the way we raised David and Mark.
