Don't worry. This will all wear off by the time he hits his teens & he will be a hormonally challenged teenager hell bent on doing the horizontal mambo. Enjoy it now while you can.

Good job, Dad! The same was true of my son. He has a very strong sense of ethics, right v. wrong, and is generally a kind person. He was in the gifted program from third grade forward and always did well in school. I always told him "stay in school" whenever we passed someone doing a disagreeable job, and he took it to heart, fortunately (now has his MBA and loves his work). He learned early from a t-ball coach and cub scouts that it was always important to do his best and to have fun. Sometimes those messages sink in better in a group setting. Good luck with your boy!

The only thing I admonish you for is calling your ex a blithering idiot. Hopefully you don't project THAT to your child. She was intelligent enough to help create your beautiful boy.

As for raising a proper heathen, you are doing just fine. Allowing a child to explore the world through their own experiences is very important. My daughter (20) dates a devout christian and she attends church with him, three times a week! All of her friends growing up had some form of religious upbringing. I never stopped her from "seeing" who and what their message was. She came to her own conclusion that it was all garbage. Because he is a truly good human, he accepts her point of view without question. More importantly he loves her. Had she chosen the religious path, I would have supported that too.

As an aside, I educated my daughter even before she was born. After her birth, every single moment was an opportunity to teach, nurture and grow my precious child. I home schooled until I came to my senses....shes pretty darn smart.I made mistakes, she did too, she conquered her fears, celebrated her victories, cried when she needed to and laughed in all the right places. I had been her mother and father since my separation from her absent dad around 8 years old.

You see my ex was a drinker. A kind, gentle, sweet man that chose alcohol over us. I did not begrudge him that. It made us both sad but I couldn't raise a happy human around him. We are still very close friends. And I never said a disparaging word about him to my daughter. Again, I let her "see" for herself. A freethinker.

Good for you and your son! My daughter was also highly capable from kindergarten on and accepted for the "gifted" program at her school. My son, 2 years younger, was not. So, success in school is not solely to the parent's credit, and why would a god single out one child and not another, for success?

I think parents can take credit for their kids success in school in the early years, be it a good combination of evoking curiosity, giving positive attention, modeling and expecting good manners toward getting along with others and respecting teachers, etc. Then at some point it becomes the kid's accomplishment foremost, with parents, support and encouragement taking a back seat.

Kids need to know their happiness and success is dependent on their own efforts, and not to credit parents (or gods) more than themselves, but definitely be honest about the support and encouragement of family members, which is so much better than neglect and indifference. Kids success in school is usually a team effort between the child, teacher and family. A variety of factors go in to the success or challenges kids have in school. A child's natural temperament and zest for learning is what it is sometimes.

Good job dad!! It’s awesome to see an involved and engaged dad.

I assume he got his moral compass from you ,since you are his father and from his intelligent mother.

No eyeball-rolling here: that is great!

(I also wonder why a lot of religious people appear to have hardly any moral compass at all.)