Children

What a simple and sweet article. It is so refreshing to read things like this after the debacle of the last two Bush administrations.

Having a daughter makes this a more compelling article for me, and it raises a point that I think about every so often. Specifically, how do you raise your children so that they are confident, curious, but still have just enough street smarts to not get themselves into too much trouble?

To a certain extent, I think the modern world is easier for girls. There are no boundaries, no limitations; just a world to explore, and in our privileged situation, opportunities and life to seize.

Boys, ironically enough, seem more complex. What does masculinity mean in the 21st century? How do you raise boys who are thoughtful and kind, and yet still boys? When I was a boy I was never into team sports or rough housing and given that I grew up in sports mad Australia, the result was that I had a somewhat conflicted relationship with my own masculinity. Ultimately, I became very confident and comfortable in my own skin, but it is a topic about which I still wonder at times.

But perhaps I am just too old school and this just really isn't an issue anymore. Indeed, while I did ponder these thoughts earlier when Caeden was just a baby, I find that as he slowly turns into a happy, boisterous little boy, that it all seems rather natural and easy. We wrestle on the bed, read books and he leads me around the house by a finger, demanding that I sit down and play trains or cars with him.

Every so often though, I can't help but say a short prayer, of the secular humanist form, thanking God that I am doing this now, and not in some decade before, when we can all just be ourselves.