Rules for Fathers and Sons

I couldn't find a list of Fathers and Sons I liked... so I compiled one. 

Rules for Fathers and their Sons

• Be there for him. Share in his success and in his failure. Share yourself with him, including your failures--he needs to know that you’ve failed and turned out OK.
• Know that your son is studying you very closely, and act accordingly. He won’t miss much, and he’ll most likely end up quite a bit like you. So be a person that you want him to end up like!
• Approve of him. Approve of him during the good times and the bad.  If you let him know after some of his worse moments that you still think he’s great, you’ll get fewer of his worst moments. 
• Develop common interests and spend time on them, and let him explore new interests and you both might find something you enjoy.  
• Don't worry about him being wimpy when he's little. He'll grow out of it... and even if he doesn't love him because of it not in spite of it. 
• Let him know that he is your pride and joy. That nothing is more important to you than he is. 
•  Let him know that you see a promising future and that you hope for a better, improved version of themselves. That their accomplishments are a joy to you. That theirworries and problems are your worries and problems. Because you love them.
• Hug and kiss your sons. 
• Be their Hero... You already are if you don't realize it. Your words and your example are a great influence on them.
• LISTEN- Llisten to your sons—really listen to them, turn off the TV, Computer and all other distractions. Ask the right kind of questions, and listen to what your sons have to say each time you have a few minutes together. You need to know—not to guess but to know—what is going on in your son’s life. Don’t assume that you know how he feels just because you were young once. Your sons live in a very different world from the one in which you grew up. As they share with you what’s going on, you will have to listen very carefully and without being judgmental in order to understand what they are thinking and experiencing.
• Pray with and for your sons. 
• Give them priesthood blessings. Which implies living worthily to hold the priesthood. 
• Dare to have the “big talks” with your sons. You know what I mean: talks about drugs and drinking, sex, about the dangers of today’s media—the Internet, cyber technologies, and pornography—and about priesthood worthiness, respect for girls, and moral cleanliness.You teach them about the big things not their friends. If they have an understanding and a foundation of the truth then they will be able to better discern what that world is trying to teach them. 
• Take time to build a fort, make mud pies, wrestle, chase a squirrel, run behind a 2 wheeler holding it steady, play on the swings, go down a slide, blow bubbles. Take time to enjoy your son. 
• Buy and use the ideas in the Dangerous book for boys.
• Love their Mother and teach them to respect women
• Support their Mother's disipline.
• Take them out one on one for some time that is just theirs.

I guess alot of the rules for Mom's and Daughters, Moms and Sons and Dads and Daughters cross over. I guess what it all boils down to is be the kind of person you want your child to admire, spend time with them, appreciate them, accept them, and Love them unconditionally.