How Not to Raise a Son – AKA Avoid These Mistakes if You Care About Your Kid! (Part 2)


AutomaticSlim  - The “Alpha” Omega



Hello again gentlemen!


I have noticed that there may be a few new commenters on this site, so allow me to introduce myself. I’ve known
Jim and many of the others here from ROK, AKC, RC and perhaps a few other sites for about 3 years now. Without
getting into too many details, let me say that my way of going through life is somewhat “non-traditional”. And at
least part of  the reason for this is due to my experiences as a child and teenager. In this “series” I am trying to do,
I will be giving advice to fathers of what to do and what not to do in order to help your son avoid many of the traps
I fell into. Feel free to ask questions if you like and I’ll try to answer them, although I usually post replies on 2nd shift.

The Grade School Years.

In my last post I wrote about the types of things that could happen if a father lets his wife take the lead in raising his son.
This type of parenting will make it much easier for your son to be the target of bullies when he enters grade school. Why?
Because the constant bullying that his mother subjects him to will make him used to being bullied and bossed around. And
the kids at school will home in on this very quickly. It is your job as a father to step in and reverse this course. Remember,
the longer you wait, the more difficult the job will become.

Young kids just seem to have an instinct to know who to pick on. It’s probably something genetic and due to human
evolution. The drive to stamp out the weak. Sounds cruel and to a certain extent it is, but one thing is for sure. It will
NEVER end. The  SJW/PC types can start all the anti-bullying initiatives they like, but it will never end. Here are some
tips for you to find out if  your son is being bullied, and what to do if this is happening.

            - Are you talking to your son? Asking about his day at school, what he did at recess, who his friends are?
   Most boys will not come right out and tell you that he is being picked on. He will think you will be
   ashamed of him for being weak. He’ll keep it bottled up and “take it like a man”. Don’t wait for him
   to come to you. Try to make some time to talk to your son everyday, preferably away from your wife.
   It is your job to monitor his progress, and you will not be able to do this if you don’t have meaningful
   conversations with him. TBH, I cannot think of one meaningful conversation I ever had with my father.
   It’s a real shame too, because he had a lot he could have passed on to me.

            - OK, so you’ve done the first step and found out that your son is being picked on or isolated. What to do now?
   Well, what you certainly SHOULDN’T do is go to the school and complain. This will serve no purpose but to
   embarrass the kid and open him up to more taunting. It really amazes me how parents today think this is a
   viable solution. I actually feel LUCKY I didn’t have parents like this (mine just didn’t give a crap – which
   is not good but better than helicopter parents). What you have to do is train the boy to not be a victim, and
   you do this by increasing his both his mental and physical strength, and also by making him feel useful and
   worthwhile.

                        o To make your son feel useful and worthwhile, give him some jobs around the house. Teach him how
    to fix leaky faucets, mow the lawn, trim the hedges or paint the house. Teach him how to change a tire.
    A young boy who can “do things” will know that he is not worthless.

o Get him involved in strength training on a regular basis. He may be too young for weights, but he is not
    too young for body weight exercises and running. Even better if you get him to wake up early and exercise
    with you. Of course you are exercising, right?

o Get him into a good fight training program outside of school. Boxing, martial arts, MMA, or whatever.
   Will get him used to being hit and hitting back in a controlled environment.

o As your son grows stronger and more able to defend himself, teach him how to counter bullies. Match
   wise cracks with astute counter attacks. Bully has big ears? Make fun of his ears. Bully is bad at school?
   Make fun of him for being stupid. And if it comes to a fight, make sure your son catches the bully alone,
   and not on school grounds. Teach him that hanging in during a fight, getting your shots in and losing is
   almost as good as winning. The bully will know that your son is no longer a pushover and will leave him
   alone. Again, these types of conversations must take place between you and your son WITHOUT the
   presence of your wife.

                        o As your son grows more confident, make sure that he is on sports teams in school (in addition to the fight
   training above). It is very important as it will teach your son how to interact with the other boys. The type
   of sport is not important, as long as he is doing the fight and strength training. If he’s not into the “big four”,
   then maybe swimming, track, tennis, or even bowling or golf (something I criticize here quite a bit, but will
   be advantageous as an adult). The important thing here is that he is part of a team and learning about being
   a good teammate.
                          
The bottom line is that you have to take an active role in raising your son and monitoring his progress. This is even more
important if your son has characteristics that will make him look different. Too skinny. Too fat. Too short. Whatever.
Work on his building his strength and abilities and confidence will follow. This is your job and it is best to start it as
early as possible. In future posts I’ll talk about what happens down the line if you are negligent in this most important task.

- Slim
 


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