What are you planning to teach your new LO?

heatherom

For the past several weeks the main topic of discussion between BF and I about our son is what we are going to teach him. You know, there's the obvious (well, it should be obvious) stuff like respect, manners, good hygeine, responsibility, hard work, etc. What are some of the more detailed, specific things you are looking forward to teaching your new kid?

BF says he's going to teach Waylon how to:

Install a roof. (LOL, but OK...)

Defend himself in a fight. (I can agree with that)

Stay away from alcohol & drugs.

Defend weaker/helpless people & animals from bullies. (I thought this was sweet)

Build a house from the ground up.

How to earn/save/handle money.

How to use a knife, matches, & guns. (I was wary but it makes sense now)

Wrestling.

 

The things I would like to teach my son are:

How to grow/gather/identify edible plants.

A sense of direction - how to always tell which way is North, by using the sun and cues from his environment.

How to handle animals, definitely teaching him to never harm an animal. (I just saw an article about how some kids put a rocket in a dog's mouth and blew it's poor face off, I would go absolutely APESH!T if my son ever participated in something like that)

How to sew/mend fabric.

How to do basic cooking/cleaning/laundry. I don't expect him to become the next Martha Stewart but I don't want him to rely on/expect a woman to do all that stuff for him.

How to tell the difference between right and wrong, why telling the truth is better than lying and how to navigate instances where it may be considered "OK to lie" (which I don't agree with). I guess this could be lumped in with Morality - but I think this is something under explained to kids these days.

How to treat a woman and tell the difference between someone of quality and someone who just wants something from you.

We both agree that while we would love to have the financial ability to pay for our son's college education out-right, we are going to make him pay for most of his own college education and encourage him to save money, get grants & scholarships and take out a student loan. We would also encourage him to join the military if he showed any interest in it. I think so many college kids these days totally take their education for granted and squander it. (I did it to some extent, and have seen it first-hand so I know it happens)

Is it utopian to think we could teach our son all of this and for it to actually take? I'm also wondering if I could be missing something really important....

 

stephers_7

the main things I want is my son to be open minded, always curious and non judgmental of how other people choose to live their lives. I dont want him to believe everything he's told and I want him to value things like an education and the power of his own mind vs material things or what other people think of him. 

and after watching my nephew for a few hours already, I want my son to mind adults! This kid is not very well behaved but then again....neither is his mother.  

getnmarried910

Aside from our religious beliefs, we want all of our children, regardless of gender (I say that since we have no idea if this is a boy or a girl):

To be respectful of other people and their choices, even if they don't agree with them. 

They will all learn all household and yard work.  I will not have a son (or sons) who can't do laundry, dishes, or clean a toilet.  I will not have daughters who cannot mow the lawn.  They will also learn basic car care.

We will teach them to budget, save, spend, give wisely. We want to show them our bills so they can actually see how much things cost in the real world.  We already have Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University Junior kit to help us get started. 

We want to teach them healthy eating habits, something we are having to teach ourselves right now.  Activities are more important than TV, internet time, video games.  We want them to be healthy adults

I'm sure there are more, but I can't think of them right now.

wintersnight20

Me:

 -How to play an instrument. I play violin, cello, guitar, mandolin and dulcimer Lol, It is very important to me for my children to be able to read music and play an instrument...

- how to be responsible for a horse beyond just riding it. I hate people who teach their kids how to ride but not the signs of colic, how to trim hooves and just basic animal husbandry. I want to know my children can be responsible for the lives of the animals in their care beyong basic feeding. We're farm types so that shouldn't be too hard.

-Morals. I'm a Christian and its very important to me to instill those values into my children (right vs wrong, doing the right thing whether its easy or not, etc). I want my kids active in their community and for me church is a start- if they choose to leave it later on I'm fine with that but I want that background in their lives.

-To work hard for yourself. Don't rely on others- if you want something enough you got to earn it. Case in point: we are not doing a college fund( flame away). It's your job to get the grades and work towards that goal- I will not hand you $50,000+ to screw around. Sure, We'll provide books, reliable vehicle but at the end of the day our children will be responsible for their education.

- don't trust the media- read, listen, ask questions THEN draw your own conclusions. Don't buy into whats "popular". This is mostly political- I grew up in a very political household where debate was normal (in a fun way) and my mother was a local politician for a long time.

His Daddy:

-How to hunt and take care of yourself

-How to play baseball (he dreams of coaching his sons baseball team, its so sweet)

-To respect the people in your life that love you and to try and be the best person you can be at all times...

-how to handle money based on daddy's many many many screwups on that department...I don't think the guy could rub two cents together until I took over the finances. Now he's amazed by what all he can accomplish with just our one paycheck.

Really we're just very old school. I just want him to be the kind of man his daddy is- if I get just that I know he'll be okay.

kaymaroo

I love this post!  DH and I have talked about this a lot.  Some of these are serious big-picture goals, others are just silly little things.

DH wants to teach him:

How to hunt, fish, and shoot a gun

Not to whine, to be tough and handle problems on his own

How to play baseball

How to fix/build a car (when he's older, obviously)

 

Things that I want to teach him:

How to budget his money

To take responsibility for his own actions and not rely on the "it's not fair" excuse regardless of what life hands him

To enjoy reading and appreciate the arts

Good manners...not just please and thank you, but how to be appropriate for a given situation, whether it's BBQ with my redneck family or dinner at a five-star restaurant (both situations DH and I find ourselves in regularly)

To be thankful for what he has, and to avoid a sense of entitlement