At some point or another, you’ve heard someone say that men aren’t supposed to cry, or feel vulnerable.
Some boys grow into men believing that they are less of a man if they share their feelings and show emotion. Naturally, people would make these associations because emotions are usually showed through women.
While it is nice to teach young boys and girls how to become good men and women, teaching them things that result in poor communication and social engagement skills, can be bad for him.
If parents want to connect with their growing son, one of the many things that has to be open at all times is the communication. Showing emotions is a form of communication. Many people in the 50’s and 60’s believed that men should not expose their feelings and keep them inside.
This isn’t healthy at all, especially for a healthy relationship between a growing tween boy and his parents. By keeping the stereotype alive that men aren’t supposed to show their emotions or be transparent, this only hinders them internally and can have negative effects like stress, or even anxiety.
If you have a young boy growing into a teenager, it is important to allow them to be masculine.
It is just as important that you encourage them to speak their mind and be transparent from time to time if they need to be.
This does not make them little, or weak or less of a young man. It is much healthier to allow your young tween to have feelings, then work on how to express and show those feelings in an effective way that is cleared communication.
We are all humans, both men and women. Humans have emotions and we should encourage our young boys that it is ok to be human.
We should teach our tweens that every time they express an emotion or choose to solve a problem instead of going into a corner and staying to themselves, they demonstrate how to be a real man who has real emotions and who deals with them.
Paishance Welch
Tween Teen & Young Adults
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