Starting Them Off Young


We've always felt that a child for the most part will never do what you say but will instead do what they see you doing. So in our effort to do less talking we've decided to do more walking and have begun a series of activities which we hope will encourage our son to be a productive man and husband one day.

With the rise of TV shows which show men in a stupid, dumb, over weight, or a semi "sweet" state. The culture promotes men who wouldn't know how to tie their shoes without a woman's help, and some are now more "diva" than woman.  There are so many men who can't even change a tire these days and even fewer who can do any home repairs. It was bad enough that so many lack basic cooking skills and clean habits.  Losing a mans ability to be helpful around the house is just so sad and we think there needs to be some sort of rights of passage into manhood in the form of classes or camps. When you have to get someone to cut your grass because your husband is to lazy to do it or lacks pride of ownership in his home by letting his house fall down around him, and his grass turn into something from the Discovery channel, then there is a problem.

As mentioned in previous post we intend to tackle issues surrounding male development on various levels. Being male doesn't mean he has to be a unfeeling brute but we personally think our son should have some type of trade skill in addition to his higher education goals (we hope he will be a physics major) inshaAllah. Currently he is learning how to do various haka dances. He started basic martial arts too. Idriss has had time on a horse and I plan on putting him into a equestrian-swim camp. We've also taken advantage of the land passed down in the family to introduce him to farm life. It's very important for him to keep company with men who work outside and aren't afraid to get dirty.  He sits with the men when they clean weapons and do yard work.  He hikes with his daddy in the mountains and at the dormant volcano's around Albuquerque.  He has very little TV time and because of this he will not watch TV no longer than 10 mins. Most children have a innocence about them but we think some of our efforts are the reason behind him having little to no fear. He goes down into basements when its pitch dark. He walked right up to grandpa's goats and rabbits cages and attempted to stick his hands in there to say hello.


My father loves to watch him all the time. With pride he laughs when ever Idriss gets into something and yells; "That dar is a BOY, I tell yah!"