JOB HUNT UPDATE

Hey guys I am going to put myself out there and ask for some help today. I remember saying I would do that three months ago when I wrote on Facebook I had been laid off. I think God's design is for the husband and father to be the spiritual head of the household and at least a significant contributor to the family's financial needs. Right now that is not happening. God is meeting our needs. And I am thankful for that. I'm just not earning my keep. You can be an encouragement to me in one of two ways:

1) Pray that God would move. And pray for my FB friends who are also looking for work -- Randy, James, James and others. Ideally I would love a writing job that allows me to work from home and still be able to walk Parker to and from school every day, and be home with him after school. He requires a lot of special care and I love being the one to give it to him. That is the ideal. Please know I have been applying for other types of jobs, including ones that would require Parker to go to after school care.

2) I am enjoying doing a lot of writing. Right now, it is all volunteer and I am not getting paid for it. Please visit my stories that I have posted  at FootballNation.com. More traffic and more comments are a real help in a tangible way. And they want us to use social media to drive up traffic. So I am not doing anything unusual by asking for your help. Thanks for hearing me out. God bless. Here is a link to my articles:

 http://www.footballnation.com/author/rich-seiber

WILL MY SON BE LIKE ME?

I worry that my son will be effeminate, like me. Not because of anything he has done or demonstrated. But sometimes we become like our parents, even when we don’t want to. We consciously and subconsciously learn their mannerisms and modus operandi. I don’t want him to go through what I went through.

For some reason I have always been very feminine. I wasn’t trying to be that way. It just happened. It was probably a combination of both nature and nurture. The way I walk. The gestures my hands make. The voice that never cracked or changed through puberty. To this day I still get mistaken for a woman in almost every phone conversation I have with a stranger.

I was teased mercilessly for my effeminate nature. I added to the cruelty by never standing up for myself and fighting back. But that is probably a topic for a future blog post. It seemed many of the people in my school, my hometown thought I was gay and repeatedly reminded me of it. For many years I think I thought they must be right. How can so many people be wrong about you?

But now as a husband and father, I want to save my son from my struggles. He will already be a target for teasing. Every kid is to some extent, but with Cerebral Palsy and autism affecting his behavior, he may have some quirky characteristics. Plus the CP has weakened his strength in his legs and arms, so he may naturally be weaker than his schoolmates.  If you add some feminine gestures that he learned from his dad to disability-induced weakness, the kids in his class may be especially cruel.

I won’t be able to protect him from everything. And already in my 40s, it would be difficult to change my body language. Maybe all I can do is affirm his masculinity and strength at every opportunity. Wrestle with him. Applaud his attempts at sports. And encourage healthy male friendships. If I do those things I hope that I can ensure that when it comes to his gestures and gender identity, he won’t be a chip off the old block.