How to Raise Your Boys to Become Great Men

There has been a lot of concern about raising male children. Therefore, this article focuses on providing a comprehensive guide on how you can raise responsible boys to be great men.

If you must get it right as a parent, then there is a need to pay attention to raising your boys. There has been massive negligence in the upbringing of the boy child.

This has given rise to raising disjointed boys who become irresponsible men and nuisance to society.

Whether you are married, a divorcee, or a single mother, aim at the proper upbringing of your boys, just like your girl child.

Parenting is a tedious journey, but it is worthwhile if you get it right to raise your children.

Journeying through childhood without the support doesn’t mean that your boys should experience the same.

It is time to get it right on your parenting journey with your son. Here are seven tips to apply in raising your boys to be great men.

1. Assign Responsibility

Being a man comes with many responsibilities and your boys will soon become men.

One way to prepare your sons for the big future responsibilities is to assign them their age-appropriate tasks. Get them to water the flowers using a small watering can.

Allow your boys to dress their beds, fold and keep their clothes, and keep their dirty clothes in the laundry basket.

Let your boys also help take care of their younger siblings. It will help your children to bond.

Make it a point of duty for your boys to take part in the decision-making process in the family.

Ask for their opinion when making decisions like, what to wear for a party in the neighbourhood and the graduation ceremony.

Involving your boys in the decision-making process enlightens them on the reasons behind certain decisions and actions.

They learn how to make the right decisions even as boys, youths, and responsible adults.

It enables them to develop critical thinking skills and be open to learning and making corrections.

2. Show them

Children learn by watching their parents. So, instead of saying one thing many times, teach them what to do through your actions. Do you want them to be kind? Be kind to them.

Do you want them to grow up being honest? Then, be honest with them. Do you want them to be good leaders?

Then, demonstrate excellent leadership skills in your home. The list goes on.

Instead of telling your sons what to do, show them what to do by being a good example.

Research shows that parents with a history of violence and childhood maltreatment are at a higher risk of engaging in abusive parenting practices.

If you are a parent in this category, decide to be intentional in raising your sons better than your parents did.

When you show children good qualities as a parent, they easily replicate the same in their lives and grow with it.

So, as a father, mother, and guardian, model whatever lifestyle you want your boys to learn and emulate. Apologize when wrong if you want them to do the same.

3. Make them Accountable

You can raise amazing sons by teaching them to be accountable. Give them tasks and let them account for how they got it done.

Give them money to shop along with you and let them account for the money. Let them account for their younger siblings when you are absent.

Accountable boys grow up to become accountable men. They are accountable to their family and team lead at work.

Your sons consider different factors before making a decision because they know that they will give an account.

Aside from this, they don’t take offense when they get requests to give an account.

Beyond celebrating their results, always ask your sons questions about the journey and the process that gave the result.

Many men do what they want to do not minding its negative impacts on the family because they believe that no one will hold them ransom.

4. Instill Values

To raise boys to be responsible men, you need to set up a non-negotiable value system.

Teach your boys to understand that this is what everyone stands for in this family. It is not just for the girls but for the boys also.

Create time to teach them what each core value represents. You can also read children’s books to your boys that tell a story about each core value.

Instill in your children values like honesty, love, tolerance, peace, diligence, unity, patience, and hospitality.

Shun them from negative vices like bullying, stealing, drug abuse, gambling, greed, gluttony, and sexual assaults.

Their everyday relationship with parents, siblings, friends, relatives, and classmates should reflect these values.

5. Discipline your Sons

Some mothers pamper their children so that they end up without discipline and become a threat to society.

Young ones rarely know their left from their right. This is where you come in to nurture as a mother or father.

Direct your sons on what to do, correct and discipline them when need be.

Simple disciplinary measures like taking away their devices, grounding them at home, and removing rewards attached to certain achievements can help correct your boys.

Both parents are to involve themselves in disciplining their boys. Child discipline is not only for the father.

This shows the boys that neither Mum nor Dad condones evil. It equally portrays that both parents.

When they perform excellently, praise and reward them. This boosts their self-confidence and makes them aim higher.

6. Teach your boys

Our society grooms girls to become young women who can fit into wives, mothers, and homemakers.

There is little or no emphasis on grooming boys to be responsible young men.

Many parents forget to teach their sons leadership, the dignity of labour, decision-making, and accountability.

It is important to teach your son, even if you are a single mother. Teach them good habits, manners, attitudes, and etiquette.

Teach them to respect people irrespective of their background, colour, and race.

Communicate with your teens about peer pressure and how to say no to them.

This awareness prepares them for the daily experiences that they will face outside their homes; in their school, neighbourhood, and at social gatherings.

7. Correct in Love

Many people perceive masculinity as a trait that is devoid of emotions and love. Therefore, they treat their boys harshly and carelessly.

This is a misconception among parents as they end up raising boys with mental health challenges.

These boys also grow up to become dysfunctional men who raise dysfunctional sons and families. The cycle continues.

Just like every other child, your son deserves love. Even when there is a need to correct him, still correct him in love.

No need to shout, curse, and threaten him as it can break him. Remember that no one is above mistake, including you, the parent.

Don’t act to correct your child when you are angry. Because you can hurt him with words.

Do not humiliate your children in front of their friends or outsiders, all in the name of correcting them.

Humiliating them makes them lose their self-esteem and respect among peers. It also destroys their self-confidence. You wouldn’t want that for your child, right?

Habits that Transform Boys into Men

Habits are behavioural patterns that we exhibit daily. They become part of us intentionally and unintentionally.

1. Integrity:

Integrity is one habit that transforms good boys into great men. It is a core value that portrays being honest and setting up high moral standards.

There are a lot of negative pictures that people paint about men that are opposed to integrity.

Some generalize men to be liars, cheats, and lazy. However, a boy who speaks the truth at all times grows up to do the same.

As a parent, you must be honest if you want your children to do the same. If you get your son to uphold moral principles as a child, you end up grooming a man of value for the next generation.

Imagine a society where every boy upholds integrity, crime will be reduced to the barest, and correctional facilities will be of no use.

2. Patience:

An important habit that can make your sons to be great men tomorrow is patience. Life is filled with many up, down, and in between.

Patience is a virtue that keeps you up when life becomes difficult. It reminds your boys that Rome was not built in a day in their life endeavours.

So they give their efforts time to mature and give results. When your boys choose to be patient with their younger ones, they are paving their paths to be patient adults.

You can teach your boys a practical lesson on patience by getting them to plant maize seeds in the backyard.

You guide them to water and weed it regularly. As you allow the seeds to germinate and bear maize seeds, teach your boys the place of patience in sowing and reaping in life.

3. Diligence:

Instead of your boys leaving all the house chores for the girls, teach your boys to be diligent. Fathers are the breadwinners in the home.

You will agree with me it requires a lot to put food on the table, cater to the family, and pay bills.

It takes diligence for a man to meet daily needs. For this reason, from the onset, teach your boys to work smart and hard.

Give them quality education and enrol them in programs to learn the relevant skills in their field of interest.

Doing this goes a long way to help them to be hardworking and independent.

4. Love:

This may sound strange, but your boy child needs so much love like your girl child. If an adult craves love, honour, and respect, how much more a child? 

Therefore, show your son’s love and teach them to spread love all around them.

When your boy child imbibes selfless love as a habit, he shows the same love to you, the parent, and other family members.

Even in your old age, they will love and care for you. Such a boy grows to become a loving father to his children.

5. Continuous Learning

Great men are lifelong learners. Every boy aspiring to be a great man in the future would value continuous learning.

In an ever-changing world, you need to be up to date with the right information, knowledge, and developments in your field. Otherwise, the boy grows up to become irrelevant.

Conclusion

Parenting is a tedious journey, but raising boys to be great men seems to be tougher.

Raising boys is an intentional journey to get it right and change the negative stereotypes about men.

Getting it right to raise your boys involves teaching, modelling, correcting, disciplining, instilling values, and assigning responsibilities. It does not end there.

It also involves raising your boys to imbibe essential habits like integrity, love, continuous learning, patience, and diligence.

It is our collective responsibility to groom boys to become real men who are trailblazers.

The journey of the positive transformation of boys into great men begins with you. It is time to get it right as a parent.

Frequently Asked Questions