As my boys get older, I've noticed something. The three males in the family (Max the dog excluded) have conflict over who is the biggest rooster in the hen house. It shows up in various ways, but I have to consistently remind the other two little roosters that I'm still the biggest. And I might have to remind the biggest rooster that it's not always that important to be seen as the biggest as it is to be the biggest.
So here are a couple of lessons I'm learning. I don't share these as "These are things you should do too." I share them as, "Hey, these are things I'm discovering about myself and the process of raising boys."
1. Patience is a virtue, but it's harder to find than snow in Miami when a little rooster is trying to unseat you.
2. Being calm is best. I've done this successfully once. Once. And it really worked. The rest of the time I've resorted to threatening to throw a rooster in an ice cold pool. Now that it's warming up, I need to come up with a better threat. Or be calmer.
3. There's a balance between letting them learn to puff their chest out and be insubordinate. One expresses some growing levels of testosterone and manhood. The other is rebellion and dangerous to their character. And it's tough to figure out which is which sometimes.
4. It's hard to remember that I'm shaping arrows to be launched at The Enemy when I can't straighten them like I think they should be. Maybe that's because I need to learn to shoot better.
So for all those with little roosters, may God bless you as you raise them. And despite my parenting, may mine grow up to be men who make a difference.
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