Direction is more important than speed. We are so busy looking at our speedometers
that we forget the milestone.
~Anonymous
Achievements, graduations, birthdays... how do you mark milestones with your children?
That is the question for this week's Living Lovely with Family.
Everyone is invited to participate. Share your thoughts and ideas on your blog and return here to enter the link to your post. Feel free to use the above image (or the smaller one on my sidebar) on your post or blog. Leave a comment if you have something to share, but don't have a blog link.
I don't have much to share this week, simply because my boys are so young that we have yet to meet many such milestones along our journey. A few thoughts that came to mind are memories from my own childhood, some of which my mom may share on her own blog.
The quote I posted above spoke to me. Life goes so quickly these days. Are we just trying to keep up, trying to get somewhere fast, or are we truly taking the time to evaluate our direction? Can we use milestones in our life to keep our journey on track?
I am suddenly reminded of a book I read a few years ago, Raising a Modern-Day Knight: A Father's Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood. I must get this book off the shelf and spend some time re-reading. Here is the product description for you:
What does it mean to be a man? Moreover, how does a father instill these qualities in his son? Using as an example the process by which a boy moved through the medieval stages of knighthood, author Robert Lewis identifies parallel stages for today's fathers to create ceremonies to commemorate significant milestones in a young man's journey toward becoming a modern-day knight. Beginning with a biblical perspective of manhood, author-pastor Robert Lewis shares a unique approach to shaping a boy into a man by equipping him with three essential elements: a vision, a code of conduct, and a cause (Christianity) in which to invest his life. Complete with ceremony ideas to celebrate accomplishments and ingrain them in his mind, this softcover is as insightful as it is practical in raising a boy to be a chivalrous, godly man.
Sound promising? While the book is obviously directed toward the father and his role in his son's life, I think it is a powerful read for mothers as well. We are studying the medieval period and knights this year making it a convenient time to begin using this process with Levi, as the images of knights and honor will be fresh in his mind and imagination. I will post another, more detailed, book review once I have re-read it and keep you posted on how we incorporate the ideas in our home with three boys.
3 comments:
Wow! That quote (it's fantastic!) and your thoughts following have really got me thinking, Heidi... so often I race through the day or the week or the season, only to wonder where the time went or what we achieved. Time with our little ones is so very precious... I don't want to waste a second of it, and I surely don't want to look back and wish we'd done things differently or with more intention.
Right now I'm compiling a book list (for myself)-- sadly, I don't read nearly enough (though that's about to change :). The Lewis Book is being added to that list asap, as raising chivalrous, godly sons (and a gracious, godly daughter) is indeed my end goal. Thanks for the recommendation, and thanks for the reminder this morning!
Oops-- almost forgot. Unfortunately, I have nothing to add to this week's series, though I'll be checking in on everyone else's for ideas. Hopefully I'll be back next week :)
That is one of our favorite books, my husband really liked it and was inspired! Looking forward to see what everyone writes about! Have a great day. :)
I am getting to this late...and don't have the time required to figure out the Mr. Linky just now...but we have started a new birthday tradition that you might like? If you go to the Dec 14 post on my blog, you will see a write-up and photos from a Birthday Walk we did for our 3 year old this year--a Montessori tradition that we have embraced. It was great fun and we plan to continue it as a tradition in our household...and plus I love that it reinforces the idea of the earth moving around the sun for my homeschooling boys!
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