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Our sweet Nathaniel started attending a private, Catholic school this year. Now, he and Julia are at the same school (hooray for the same schedules again!). Over the past few months, we have seen this wonderful kid start to grow into a wonderful young man. He is coming home and teaching us new prayers. He loves to tell us what he learned in theology and how he will defend his faith. It has been such a blessing to our family.
Brian and I started to look for a way to really celebrate how much he has grown.
The book, Raising a Modern Day Knight: A Father’s Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood, is full of wonderful ideas and example ceremonies to celebrate a young man’s journey.
Today we had planned to surprise him with a ceremony to recognize the qualities we are seeing in him.
This morning, we woke up to our roof leaking from a steady overnight rain. He spent the afternoon helping his father sweep the excess water off the roof, put a tarp down, carry rocks up the ladder to hold the tarp down, and puncture the ceiling inside to relieve the standing water. This wasn’t exactly the ceremony night we envisioned, but it was actually perfect.
He stood by his father’s side – watching, learning, and caring for his family.
After we cleaned up, we let him choose what pizza we would order and surprised him with this plaque for his room. We spent some time telling him what values we are seeing unfold in his life and how proud we are of him. We talked about what we would like to see continued and what we expect. It was a moment I know he’ll treasure. As the middle child, he is so easy and laid back. He doesn’t ask for anything – so I was thrilled to be able to surprise him with something that was just his.
I love what was said about what makes a perfect ceremony:
- Memorable ceremonies are costly: This does not mean just money – it can be time, thought, planning, and effort
- Memorable ceremonies ascribe value: This is done by setting aside time and making the effort
- Memorable ceremonies employ symbols
- Memorable ceremonies empower a life with vision
This outline really helped as I planned what I wanted the ceremony to look like.
We love you, Nate. We are so proud of the man you are becoming.
He sounds like a great young man! I am loving this book and the ideas about celebrating our son growing up! I will be checking into it!
I really like the way you honored your son and the place he is at in his life with the plaque and the ceremony of the moment. I think we should always do this, and make the moment memorable. It gives our children markers by which to monitor their growth into young adults, and adults; and Christian growth as well.