I love this topic! I'm a therapist out of college counseling center and I'm humbled by how much I didn't understand about college boys. There's a lot that gives me hope for their generation.
So much to be hopeful about! But a lot will have to change first. I'm hopeful that the current culture of speaking more openly about mental health will benefit boys too - as well as the emphasis being put on social-emotional learning in K-12 education. It can't hurt, right??
When I was pregnant with both my boy and my girl, everyone told me how “girls are so much harder.” I think we just assume boys don’t require the same emotional support and that is obviously not true. Thanks for this research!
It's wild how comfortable people feel saying the most abjectly sexist things about BABIES AND LITTLE KIDS. I remember once when my daughter (age 3 or 4) was running around playing with a little boy about her age. They were being really loud and rowdy and having the time of their lives. A woman turned to me and said, "Aren't you glad you don't have a boy?" It was dumbfounding because my daughter was behaving in THE EXACT SAME WAY, yet all she could see was a little boy being loud and exuberant in his play. I was so stunned I'm sure I didn't even respond to her comment, but I wish I had.
For all the ways it could be critiqued for patriarchy, The Lord of the Rings has a lot of depth in male friendship and intimacy. It will be one of the stories I share with my boys.
Those early years with a boy feel so vulnerable - and I think I was aware in an intellectual sense of the divide, but it became so keenly felt as I was raising one, which of course opened up so much concern over how to navigate it all.... Glad I found this article!
Thank you Emily. It was great to talk with you about Boymom
Thank you Ruth! I really enjoyed our conversation and I appreciate your book so much.
I love this topic! I'm a therapist out of college counseling center and I'm humbled by how much I didn't understand about college boys. There's a lot that gives me hope for their generation.
So much to be hopeful about! But a lot will have to change first. I'm hopeful that the current culture of speaking more openly about mental health will benefit boys too - as well as the emphasis being put on social-emotional learning in K-12 education. It can't hurt, right??
When I was pregnant with both my boy and my girl, everyone told me how “girls are so much harder.” I think we just assume boys don’t require the same emotional support and that is obviously not true. Thanks for this research!
It's wild how comfortable people feel saying the most abjectly sexist things about BABIES AND LITTLE KIDS. I remember once when my daughter (age 3 or 4) was running around playing with a little boy about her age. They were being really loud and rowdy and having the time of their lives. A woman turned to me and said, "Aren't you glad you don't have a boy?" It was dumbfounding because my daughter was behaving in THE EXACT SAME WAY, yet all she could see was a little boy being loud and exuberant in his play. I was so stunned I'm sure I didn't even respond to her comment, but I wish I had.
Right? Regardless of whether it’s directed at a girl or boy it’s wild and kind of sexist
And it's so sad that people don't think that boys deserve the same kind of emotional labor that we put into raising girls
For all the ways it could be critiqued for patriarchy, The Lord of the Rings has a lot of depth in male friendship and intimacy. It will be one of the stories I share with my boys.
*can be critiqued
I have actually never read the Lord of the Rings, but that seems like a great example!
Those early years with a boy feel so vulnerable - and I think I was aware in an intellectual sense of the divide, but it became so keenly felt as I was raising one, which of course opened up so much concern over how to navigate it all.... Glad I found this article!