Raising them right

If you have kids that like to do 'dangerous' stuff, then you know the feeling. Living in the country you have a wide variety of the 'dangerous' activities. They can range from dirt bikes, four-wheelers, tractors, horses, bulls, cars, trucks, well you get the idea... So, the thing is you have to figure out when to say no, when to say go, and when to let them and just clinch your cheeks, grit your teeth and pray they don't get hurt.

I'm sure at some point someone warned me how difficult parenting would be. I'm also sure I didn't listen. I've been told they don't come with a handbook but, they do. The bible. There are also some parenting books out there and some other things and they offer a little advise and a little help with certain things but Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it." I don't always get it right, so I pray often that they forget the stuff I screwed up. The rest though. I've taught them to share, to be kind, to tell the truth and to cook, do dishes and laundry. So far so good, they can keep that stuff.

Something I'm not sure if I can teach them or if I do if they'll hold on to it is my love for horses and everything, they have to offer from all forms of therapy to a sport like none other and a million other things like 'responsibility' and caring for something that depends on you for life.

The other thing you do. You teach yourself. You learn to 'let go'. Your kid is growing up every day. As much as every mom ever wants to keep them little, and snuggley for as long as possible it doesn't happen. One day you blink and they're teenagers and you realize that they still say "I love you, have a good day mom" when they go to, and they might even beg to stay with you but they're no longer hugging you buy in front of their friends. They're almost men and women.

You realize that you slowly 'let go'. You had to. One day it's 'riding their bike by themselves with no training wheels', another it's riding the horse alone', maybe next time is a dirt bike and so on. Eventually you realize that you've been clinching your cheeks, gritting your teeth and praying all the while telling them what a great job they're doing and how proud you are. Thats the stuff in Proverbs 22:6. Teach them right. They will take it with them, and they won't turn away from it.