Ten things I want to teach my son

Here we are, my first attempt at a meme. Drumroll please!

As mentioned in my previous post I’d like to do this on the first of every month, so you have plenty of time to think about it! The theme is ten things I want to teach my children, or that I think my children need to learn to be successful (however you define it!) adults. I posted my first list for my daughter, as an example, here. Today’s list is for my son. You can write it any which way you want, for your son or daughter, for your children if you don’t want to genderize it, or for your future kids if you don’t have any yet, hey, you can even write it for your grandkids if you don’t agree with the way your own grown children are doing things:

Here’s mine:

Ten Things I Want To Teach My Son


1. Cherish your sister – so you’ll always have family even after we’re gone

2. Be a gentleman – even though you may grow up in Italy where this seems to be a lost art. Gentlemanly behavior is not outdated, most of the time it simply equals being nice and caring towards others. So hold doors open for people, help someone struggling with their load and for goodness sakes give up your seat on the bus to women and older people.

3. Be generous – if you’re going out with a girl, pay. That’s it, no arguments, no excuses. If you want to date her pay for dinner, if she’s just your friend treat her anyway and she can get it next time, and what the hell, treat your mates to a beer every once in awhile too. Pay it forward, it never hurts to be generous – but no strings attached!

4. Learn to change a tire. Seriously.

5. Tie a proper bow tie – no man has ever looked dapper or dashing in a clip on. Ever.

6. How to fight – resolving conflicts with diplomacy is always best but know how to throw an effective punch because you may need it someday.

7. Sex is great but it needs to be accompanied by respect and discretion, you may not always do it for love but for goodness sakes don’t brag, demean or disrespect the person you are having it with.

8. Think with your brain and not your….

9. Be nice to your in laws, no matter how annoying they may be.

10. Don’t compare your girlfriend to your mother (because mothers always win!)

Ok, your turn! Just write your post and link up here, and be nice and go visit the other bloggers on the list! If you don’t have a blog and want to play anyway send me your ten things via email and I’ll make a special post for you or write them in the comments (if you’ve got the time and patience!).

The linky will be open for a week and since I’m only doing this once a month, I’ll be posting reminders when we get close to the next installment. Thanks for participating!

(Yes, lots of exclamation points in this post, I’m excited about this, ok?!!!)

Ten things I want to teach my children

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