R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Happy Monday folkers!!!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  My weekend was pretty low-key.  I didn't do much other than spend the weekend with family.  Friday was interesting, which led me to talk about "respect" on today's blog.  Saturday, my parents came over to visit me and Gavin.  Then I hung out with some friends next door.  Sunday, I spent time with my cousin and nephew and then took Gavin to Super Franks so he can get out of the house and play with his cousin, Donovon.  Overall, I had a good weekend.

Now, onto today's topic "RESPECT".  We are all aware that your man will treat you the same way he treats his mama.  I will try and be a lady about how I approach this topic as this is a sensitive subject and not intended to bash anyone.

Growing up, it was a huge part of my discipline to always respect my parents, no matter what!  If they beat me, love me, yell at me, etc. you are to always show your unconditional respect towards them because they brought you into this world and provided for you.  Given the financial situation for everyone these days, that's something to appreciate in the utmost respect.  With the monetary factor aside, kids are brought up to always respect their parents, PERIOD.

As I got older and moved out on my own, I saw how hard it was to support myself and now that I'm a mother, having to care for another person, I can understand why my parents made sure I understood the meaning of parenthood and the difficulty of it.  It's not until you leave the nest when you fully learn to spread your wings.  As a parent, I want to instill the same values to my son so he can grow up to be a sweet little boy and respectful to everyone around him including his parents.  Kids will always be a reflection of their parents and with that said, we, as parents need to instill proper values into our children while they are still young because if you don't, you may never get the chance to and it'll be too late.

I've come to the realization that if you don't stress the importance of respect to your kids, they will grow into adults without values or concerns and regards of others' feelings.  If parents try too hard to be "friends" rather than "parents" to their children, you will be treated as such and there is an extreme fine line between the two.  I'm all for being friends with your children, but if you cross that line where you talk the lingo of your children and try to be hip and act the age of your children, best believe you will get treated the same way.  It's ok to be friends, BUT it must be etched in stone that you are the parent and deserve to be respected, obeyed and listened to.

When you see a man yell at his mom using profanity, hangs up on her, disrespects her in public, constantly rides her ass with every little move she does, THIS PERSON WAS NOT BROUGHT UP RIGHT.  Is it his fault?  Yes, but partially.  Everything starts at home.  If you let your children get away with everything and I do mean, everything, you will suffer the consequences for your entire lifetime and those who are unfortunate to be involved with people like this, will too.

When I was little, the moment I answered back to my parents, they were not shy about slapping me across the face.  Did it scare me?  Yes!  Did it show me who was superior to me?  Yes!  Did it teach me a lesson?  Not all the time... But I got the point eventually and I learned from my mistakes.  Not to toot my own horn, but you can ask anyone about me.  They will tell you I'm a sweet person and very loving.  My rough upbringing made me a strong, respectable woman.  I cannot let my parents' failures or my mistakes corrupt the reflection I am of them.  They raised me the best way possible and I came out with flying colors.

Respect is earned, indeed.  However, parents are given this by default, with the exception of parents who aren't doing their part as parents.  What I'm saying is, if you don't teach your children the value of respect, to respect women, respect your elders, relatives, friends, occupation, etc. you will hurt yourself and others that care about you.  I'll be damned if the next man I get with has the nerve to call me a bitch like it's the word "the" in his vocabulary in front of anyone, anytime, anywhere, in front of my child lacking the respect that is earned when being a woman who has loved unconditionally and brought a child into this world and has done nothing short of everything for him.

A red flag should definitely be brought up once you see your prospect/man mistreating his mother.  He will do the same thing to you.  If this is how he treats the important women is his life, think about if this is what you want to live with for the rest of yours.