Below is a post I wrote two years ago about my weekly breakfasts with Adam. Now that Micah is in 6th grade, it’s time to begin this tradition with him. Prior to this semester I was not sure how I was going to have the same weekly times with Micah since he and Mandy normally leave early to get to school. But with virtual learning from home, I now have time.
Last night I asked Micah if he would like to go to breakfast with me this morning. A smile quickly formed on his face. I decided that we would read the same book that I had read that first year with Adam. This morning I went to wake him up a little before 7:30. He was up and dressed quickly, and off we went to Midtown Donut (did you think he would pick a different place!). After getting our food we headed to Overton Park, where we found a picnic table and enjoyed some quality time together.
When we got there he told me that he had a bad dream last night. In the dream he was rude to me, so I told him we wouldn’t go to breakfast. He was so sad. This morning he woke up and thought it was real, but then I came in to get him up and he knew it was ok. He’s such a sweet boy.
For more on the why of this weekly tradition, check out this blog post from two years ago…
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When Adam entered 6th grade I decided to begin a new tradition with him. I decided that I would take him out for breakfast once a week before school, and during that time I would take some intentional steps in helping him move from boyhood to manhood. We have been blessed to have good schools for our boys, but we know that there are some subjects that our education system is unable to tackle. That’s where we as parents come in.
We go to different places each week, but our favorite is Barksdale. Adam likes tradition, and our waiter knows what we want as soon as we walk in. We love that place.
The first year we read a book together on the topic of manhood. Last year we continued the tradition, and our focus was on memorizing Scripture. This year we’re reading another book together, but we’re also talking about money. When Adam turned 11 Mandy and I opened a car fund savings account for him. We told him that when he was ready to buy a car, we would match whatever he wants to spend. Let me tell you…the kid caught on to this. He’s a natural saver, and I’m a bit worried about what he’s going to want to buy in a few years!
This summer he got his first real job helping to teach swim lessons. He did a great job, and I think he really enjoyed it. A few weeks ago I talked to him about the power of compound interest, explaining what $500 could look like 40 years from now. It’s a little over $20k. Here’s the crazy thing. Hold it for another 10 years and it comes close to tripling! He was pretty amazed. So he took his taxable income from his summer job and we opened a Roth IRA for him. Can we say Proud Dad Moment!
I’ve always known that I wanted to take an active role in the formation of my kids. I believe that there is a unique role that dads play in this task. Like every other man I know though, my biggest obstacle was myself. I didn’t know how to do it. Fearing that this would lead to never doing anything because I didn’t have the perfect plan, I mustered up the courage to do one breakfast. The next week Adam asked if we could do it again. And then he did it again the next week. He’s grown to love the routine, and you better believe that I’m going to maximize this for as long as he wants to do it.
