Dear Teen Son, Don’t Be in Such a Hurry To Become a Man

I know it’s hard watching your friends transform right before your eyes…

Their voices have grown deeper, their facial hair has become more than just peach fuzz, and their bodies are changing rapidly.

When you train with your school teammates, I know you constantly compare yourself to those who have already crossed over that threshold of puberty. It’s so hard to keep up with their strength, their agility, their force. But remember it’s only a matter of time before your body will do the same.

When you walk the halls, feeling like a child among peers who have already entered through the door of manhood, remember it’s only a matter of time before you join them, too.

It’s hard being stuck in one place, while others move forward leaving you behind.

But don’t be in such a hurry to become a man, sweet son.

You can’t rush time.

You can’t race into manhood, as fast as you might want to go.

The truth is- manhood comes to you when it’s good and ready-

When you’re good and ready.

But I know that doesn’t change how you feel. I know it’s awkward looking like a ‘child’ when others around you have passed the threshold and entered through the doors of puberty.

But take a closer look at yourself, sweet boy.

It’s happening right before your eyes.

You are growing taller, getting stronger, shifting and changing and slowly transforming before our eyes.

And one day very soon, manhood will come looking for you.

It’s coming faster than you know, although you question if it’s near.

But I see it in the faded distance, racing toward you with accelerated speed. It’s appearance like a train’s headlight glowing from miles away on the winding tracks from where you came. It has traveled through all the ages and stages of your life and it’s coming to take you further down the road into an entirely new world.

Far away from the innocent and simple one you know now.

Don’t rush to it, dear boy.

It must come to you.

You must patiently wait at the station.

It will be at your stop soon.

And when it comes for you, it will take you to your next destination- And it’s a huge transition.

Becoming a man is a mighty thing.

And I secretly want that train to slow down because I am already missing my little boy.

I don’t want your childhood to end because it’s been so very precious to me.

It’s been wonderful to hold your sweet boyhood in my arms and walk hand in hand beside you through the years.

I don’t want to ever let go…

That hand I now hold will become larger and stronger and it will slowly loosen its grip as the train takes you away.

And you will move onward with unrelenting time, soon enough.

And the thought of that stirs my heart with all the fragile feelings I can hardly bear.

I’m in no hurry for that train to come, dear son.

But I know you are.

You see, every boy has their own perfect design, marked by all the extraordinary twists and turns of time.

Each one destined on their own road.

And your road is mapped out in its own unique way…

It will lead you exactly where you want to go, I promise.

So, don’t be in such a hurry to become a man,

It will happen soon enough and until then, let me hold tight these final days of you being my boy.

Let me hold your sweet hand before manhood comes to take it away…

his post was contributed by Christine Carter who writes at TheMomCafe.com, where she hopes to encourage mothers everywhere through her humor, inspiration, and faith. Her work is published on several various online publications as well. She is the author of “Help and Hope While You’re Healing: A woman’s guide toward wellness while recovering from injury, surgery, or illness.”

Are you in the thick of raising your tweens and teens? You may like this book by Whitney Fleming, the co-owner of Parenting Teens & Tweens: Loving Hard When They’re Hard to Love: Essays about Raising Teens in Today’s Complex, Chaotic World.