Raising Emotionally Strong Boys
As God's image bearers, part of laying a healthy foundation is accurately defining masculinity by looking through the lens of Jesus as a man. His strength was defined by sacrifice, humility, compassion, and love. He had close relationships with a small group of men. He was a champion of women. Scripture tells us Jesus wept in an encounter of loss,
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Consider using some part of your training time to watch movies like My All American; Radio; The Blind Side; When the Game Stands Tall; Remember the Titans; Invincible; Facing the Giants; We Are Marshall; Rudy; Glory Road; Hoosiers; Hurricane Season; Coach Carter; Invictus; Bend It Like Beckham; Miracle; Eddie the Eagle; The Miracle Season; Soul
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On that note, let's stop asking boys, "What do you want to do?" Let's start asking them, "Who do you want to be?"
Boys will instinctively tether themselves to their performance as students and athletes. They will feel the pull as adults to anchor their identity to vocation. Asking boys, "What do you want to do?" or men, "What do you do?" assumes
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The second emotional milestone is perspective. This milestone is learning to accurately categorize the events of life. Learning that a one in life is losing my car keys and a ten is losing a family member. I don't want to go to ten over losing a scrimmage, though many boys can and do.
The milestone of perspective is like the pain scale doctors use.
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Though Scripture is incredibly clear in God asking us to come to him when we are weary and burdened, helpless and in need, we struggle with doing so as males. The invitation is clear, but the practice is difficult. Until we learn to pray with honesty, speak with honesty, and act with honesty, we will continue to rely on our own strength. Relying on
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I'd encourage you to watch the footage with your kids and allow the visual to set the stage for some great conversation. Talk about
https://youtu.be/MoxFkJlVZlA
Who are your "pacesetters"-the friends who stay with you in the hard moments and celebrate with you in the victories?
Who are you a pacesetter for in friendship? Which friends are you
Sissy Goff • Raising Emotionally Strong Boys
This swing from blame to shame is one that boys make often. They struggle to get to the healthy middle space of taking ownership and rebuilding anything that needs repairing.
Sissy Goff • Raising Emotionally Strong Boys
It seems important to acknowledge how contradictory this way of being in the world is to the common phrase "Man up!" I think about how often males speak and hear those words. If you really think about it, the message there is to stop feeling, start doing, and take care of things on your own. The message burdens males with a need to carry everything
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The Bible specifically tells us a few times to "stand firm", "act like men" and similar instructions. While dependency on God is the source of this strength, it does seem that "man up" is an intended directive from scripture. I don't know that those directives conflict with the author's intent, but it seems there may be a "both and" here. Yes, we have a broken definition of masculinity in the world, but also, we need man up in a lot of areas.
The third emotional milestone is empathy. Empathy is a wellresearched, foundational ingredient in all healthy interpersonal relationshipsspouse to spouse, parent to child, friend to friend, coworker to coworker. It's the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person.