(Post sponsored by ManCub Clothing)

I’ve been getting in a bit of trouble at home lately. The boy is starting to talk (a lot) and has an annoyingly astute ability to mimic every sound I make…mainly the ones that he isn’t supposed to.

It’s really got me thinking about the importance of being a good role model for your little one. The imprint you make on their personalities is becoming more and more apparent to me and I just hope that I do it right…you do only get one chance at it after all!

I work with children every day and it is sadly so clear which of the kids have good role models as parents. Manners, politeness and common decency are things that seem to be quickly depleting in our society, and as a parent, I hope (and quite often pray) that our boy comes out the other end as a good person. I genuinely don’t mind about anything else, as long as he’s good to people and knows right from wrong, that’s all I ask.

With that said, having a child really makes you look at yourself too. Do I want Eddison to be a clone of me? Simply…no – it’s taken me too long to be nice, I wish I’d learnt earlier. I have been really lucky and had so many positive experiences in my life – I do hope that he has these and as his parent, I hope to encourage him, like my parents did with me, to do things and explore the world. What I hope he doesn’t have to do is make the mistakes I did. I hope he doesn’t have to spend time worrying about all of the things I did and I really don’t want him to work the doors (please, please don’t do that son!)

The thing is, I’m always getting the old, “You two are so similar already!” It might be because I secretly love getting us matching clothes to wear; I love it when I see ranges that offer father and son clothing – I’m not sure what it is, but I just like the idea of matching just a little bit. I think it’s more likely because we spend so much time together. I love that people think my son is like me, I just hope I’m doing him justice.

I want my boy to find his own way in the world, but I want him to know that whatever he does, his mum and I have his back. I want him to feel safe and know that we’d do anything for him – he is our cub after all.