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Do you have a son or grandson about to turn thirteen? Are you looking to do something special to mark his entrance into manhood?

Making the leap from boyhood to manhood is the most important transition that your son will make. His happiness, self confidence, and future marriage all depend on successfully navigating his teenage years. As fathers, we can either sit by as our sons stumble upon their own mistakes, or we can lovingly share our experiences with them to help them build lives of purpose and meaning.

But how can we effectively pass down inter-generational knowledge in a meaningful way to our sons? Today’s thirteen year old is more influenced by his phone than his father.

In the past, societies from around the world held initiation events to mark the transition from boyhood to manhood. The purpose of these gatherings was to create a situation where elders could bestow the ‘knowledge of life’ and ‘family values’ with the younger generation. This helped to keep the tribe alive and well cared for. To our son’s detriment, modern society no longer offers a similar coming of age ceremony today.

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