PARENTHOOD, a CHALLENGE - the BIBLE, a GUIDESample

Ephesians 5:33 (NLT): So again, I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Psalm 119:9 (NLT): How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word.

Ideas for raising boys today

Nowadays, men, especially young men, often feel lost, with no real reference points in society that can show them what it means to be a man. They are challenged by the rise of women in the workplace and their desire for a new, more equitable balance in gender relations. How can we get our boys back into a position where they can blossom and respect women simultaneously?

One reason for the current male crisis is that no rite of passage any longer marks the accession to adulthood. When do you become a man? When you get your first job? When you get your driver's license? When you get married?

So, we came up with rites of passage for our sons:

At the age of 12-13, once a month, I had a one-on-one conversation with them about what it meant to be a man, woman, sexuality, and work ... I positioned myself not just as their father but as a man, sharing some of my own experiences with them. These conversations became a privileged moment of complicity that still serves today as a regular basis for deep discussions between us.

At 16, a secret ceremony of introduction to adulthood concluded with an entrance test that welcomed them into the circle of men of faith. There, surrounded by the important men in their lives, they received testimonies of what it had meant to become a man for others and learned that, while mistakes were part of life, they would not have to face trials alone; other men would be there for them.

For their 21st birthday, we brought the family together and, in a final moving ceremony, had them kneel as boys and stand up as men for all to see. They had become full-fledged men, recognized as such by their families.

These are just a few examples of the ones that suited our family. But they convey the intentionality that allowed us to see our sons become men. We did not know how; God led and inspired us.