Your Son’s 13th Birthday Is Approaching Quickly & This Is A Big Deal! Below are some important things for you to do as a dad & ideas to make it special.
13th Birthday – A Milestone for Your Son. What’s Occurring:
Your son is beginning to transition from being a boy to being a young man; he’ll have more exposure to worldly views, as well as an increasing awareness of girls & his physical changes into a young man.
This Is A Good Time For Father & Son Overnight Getaway To Discuss The Following Key Messages:
- The importance of keeping God first in his life.
- How CRITICAL it is to choose good friends.
- The importance of evaluating situations, the life-long impact of his decisions, & how to make good ones (thinking about what our son has learned about critical topics in life).
- The importance of being confident in himself & his beliefs in life.
- Discussions about sex, girls, alcohol, drugs (and the way alcohol & drugs can affect what you do in general & with girls).
Key Things for Dads to Do:
It’s a good time for father & son overnight getaway, so think about what your son’s favorite things are to do & what would be a very special weekend with you for him to remember forever (e.g. camping,
a trip to see an NFL or MLB game, a trip to the beach, etc).
Write a letter to your son telling him:
- How much you love him.
- Some perspective about what you have seen in him over these past 13 years & that he is now transitioning from being a boy to being a young man, and there are increasing levels of responsibility and behavior that are acceptable and fitting of a young man.
- Describe the young man he is turning into, and let him know that although he’ll still make mistakes, you love him, you are proud of him, & are going to help train him along the path to life on his own.
- Describe in detail his strengths, special talents, & abilities…and describe how those will benefit him in life.
- Read this letter to him at dinner while you are on your father & son weekend trip together, then present him with the letter (signed by you) and a special birthday gift from you to him, marking his transition from being a boy to being a young man.
- Your weekend getaway is also a good time to talk about sex & sexual activity with girls. Some dads do a program called ‘Passport to Purity’ offered by Family Life (be sure to listen to every module BEFORE you listen with your son, because there may be elements of it that you prefer to skip or cover on your own)…many dads find they are able to cover a lot of it while in the car on the way to & from their weekend getaway.
You may also choose to mark this milestone with a dinner for family/friends where you read the letter you wrote him & share with everyone that this is an important milestone event, celebrating your son’s transition from being a boy to being a young man.
Need More Parenting Advice?
As parents, we all want to raise kids to prepare them for life on their own. We want our kids to build solid character who understands how to make wise choices. These choices include the core life topics such as friends, dating, money, health, drugs, and how they spend their time.
So we created Trailmap For Life, a non-profit program solely focused on helping people understand & navigate the 10 most important topics in life. Our Trailmap For Life program is a quick 5 session program you get to do with your family for FREE that will radically help your kid have a fulfilling life. Sign up today!
