What I Want To Teach My Son: 26 Weeks

My 10 year old cousin asked me recently what is the first thing I'm going to teach my baby. I didn't have a good answer at the time because I haven't thought about the things I would teach my son when he's a baby, but I've thought extensively about what I want to teach my son when he's older.
 
Here are a few of those things:

1. The world doesn't revolve around you. You can't have everything you want. You can't get all the attention all the time.
2. Love God. Love others. Put others before yourself. Be loving, be giving, be kind.
3. Respect others. Respect your parents. Respect older people. And when it comes time to address this, respect women.
4. Be strong. Stand up for your beliefs. Don't give in to others when they are doing something you know is wrong.
5. Be hard working. Try your best at everything you do. Have dreams and go for them. Take every opportunity.
6. Be amazed by the world's beauty. Appreciate nature. Appreciate good music. Appreciate laughter.
7. Be honest. Keep your promises. Do not steal. Do not hit others. 
8. You are not better than anyone else. It doesn't matter what color their skin is, how smart they are or aren't, if they're good or bad at sports or music, or if they are good looking or not. And on the flip side, no one else is better than you. You might think someone else is better looking or a better athlete, but that doesn't take away from who you are.

It's a short list, but I know these are lofty goals. I pray for my son all the time, and I pray that God will equip TJ and me to be good parents. And I know that God is going to honor that request because that's what He desires too, even though I know we will not be perfect and definitely will mess up on multiple occasions.

I fear my children making bad decisions in the future. Not the kind that just have sucky consequences you have to deal with and learn lessons from, but the serious kind. It doesn't help that I'm reading a book about a school shooting that speaks mostly from the shooter's mother's perspective. BUT in all this fear, I know that God is sovereign, and that my son is His child, first and foremost. I have some more awesome stuff to say about that, but I'll save that for later. For now, I'll just say that our God is good, and I know that when I pray for my son's future salvation in Christ, God is going to honor that because that's what He desires, too.