Tips on Building Your Son’s Character

Today, I’m sharing parenting advice on building your son’s character.   Are you striving to raise good, decent human beings? Community service and leadership helps build a child’s character.  Both have the ability to help shape your child’s development and outlook on life.  As parents, building values, integrity, honesty, faith and more is a huge responsibility.   Fortunately, you don’t have to do it alone.

My grandson plays in the Virginia Beach Pop Warner football program.  Nothing Is Given Everything is Earned is their motto.  What a lesson to teach our sons and daughters.   It prepares them to be productive human beings and work for what they want in life.

Furthermore, they involve their players in Promise Keepers.  The purpose of Promise Keepers is to help men learn respect, purpose, and influence in their homes and communities. Many lack role models on how to achieve these goals.  So, Promise Keepers helps rise up men with integrity and to identify with Christ.  This includes young men who never attend church.  Furthermore, they teach men to be humble, honor women and children, and follow God at all costs.

Bill McCartney founded Promise Keepers in 1990.  The program has touched the life of 7 million boys and men.  They believe in building a strong foundation that will keep young boys on the right path no matter where their future takes them.

 7 Promises in Building Your Son’s  Character: 

Honor  – A Promise Keeper is committed to honoring Jesus Christ through worship, prayer and obedience to God’s Word.  Teach your son to give glory and all honor to God in everything he does.  It will be a blessing to watch him pray, attend church and obey his parents, grandparents and other leaders.  My grandson was leading us in prayer and blessing the food when he was five.

Brotherhood – A Promise Keeper is committed to pursuing relationships with other men.  They must strive to understand that he needs brothers to help him keep his promises.  So, being a team player is important.  It’s imperative that you teach your son that it’s okay to reach out to others. Teach your son that he doesn’t have to go through life alone or deal with his problems alone.  Being a part of a group helps young men feel like they belong and it helps build a strong foundation for them to stand on.

Virtue – A Promise Keeper is committed to practicing spiritual, moral, ethical, and sexual purity.  It’s so important that teens/children have someone to turn to.  Especially, when they reach puberty.  Peer pressure can be difficult for kids.  Socializing with other who have the same values can help during difficult times.  Especially, when difficult decisions have to be made.  Furthermore, teens need to understand that not having sex and not following the crowd is cool. 

Commitment – A Promise Keeper is committed to building strong marriages and families through love, protection and biblical values.  Many young men come from single parent homes.  As a result, parents come together and open their homes to other team members.  Young boys get an opportunity to see homes that are different from theirs or the same.  It’s important for young men to learn to love who they are and where they come from.

Change Making – A Promise Keeper understands that Jesus calls him to be His hands and feet, serving others with integrity. He purposely lifts up the leadership of the church and his nation in prayer.  Teaching your son to give Jesus the glory in that he does will build confidence.  He will learn to rely on someone greater than him, and he will carry it into all aspects of his life.

Unity – A Promise Keeper is committed to reaching beyond any racial and denominational barriers to demonstrate the power of biblical unity.  Expose your child to other children who don’t look like them or who don’t worship like them is imperative.  So, it’s important that children understand diversity.  Involving them in programs and being around other who are different from them helps them understand diversity better.

Obedience – A Promise Keeper is committed to influencing his world, being obedient to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.  Teaching children to be obedient to their parents, teachers, and elders is important.  With this comes manners and respect.

Finally, your child doesn’t have to play organized sports or go to church every Sunday to implement these teachings into his life.  You can use these stepping stones in building your child’s character on a solid foundation.  Good character builds a good personality, and it is the basis for personal growth.  It is the core of a person’s characteristics, and character building should start at an early age.