You are his home

* “Mothers are Home. [Idyllically] They represent everything good and right, comforting and safe. She is where I want to go when I hurt and the first person I want to call if something good happen. My mom is my biggest fan.”

* “My mom is my plumb line and my moral compass. She’s the one person who accepts me for who I am because she knows who I really am. I don’t need to hide anything from her..”

* “Home is where he find finds his roots. [You] were the place where your son’s first roots develop. This has been studied and researched in the maternal infant bond. Those who have more secure attachments tend to enjoy better emotional health and suffer less [mental health issues] later in life.”

*” If a boy’s roots are strong and he feels deeply connected to his mother, he will feel safer when it comes time to move out and into the world. For example, as your son starts middle school, he can spend more energy figuring out what he likes to study, what sports he likes to play, what friends he likes to do things with, because he doesn’t need to use all of his energy, safeguarding his relationship with you; that is, of course, if his roots are firmly established. Just as a young plant with shallow roots is easily torn from the soil, so too is a boy made vulnerable to the pressures of his immediate world if he doesn’t have a solid relationship with his mom.”

* “Each of us mothers must help our sons find whatever it is in life that [ignites] passion in them… sure we can sign them up for extracurricular activities and summer camps and find the best schools but we can’t [merely focus there]. You must help them look beyond themselves and serve others because often it is in the serving in the context of a community where they begin to understand a deeper meaning to their lives.”

In summary, we spend so much time focused on success that we forget deeper, better, and more virtuous habits. That is where the moral arc of a mother or father can truly help shape the hearts of our little boys and sustain them to become young men.

Quoted bullet points taken from Chapter 4 of Strong Mothers, Strong Sons by pediatrician, Dr Meg Meeker.