Let’s settle something once and for all: Boys are allowed to have feelings, too.
I know you are uncomfortable with a boy who cries. I know you cringe to see a sad boy walking. I know you can’t stand to see a man barely able to crawl from his bed because of the darkness hanging in his head.
But here’s the thing, society: Real men do cry. Real men do feel. Real men talk and grieve and walk with vulnerable hearts instead of clenched-tight ones.
You are not a man if all you ever do is hide behind a straw house of strength. You are not strong if you never show us weak.
What if letting a boy walk away sad means we save him from not just a physical heart disease, but an emotional one, too, because he feels understood and supported and highly esteemed?
Where men can be real men.
And that, society, is worth letting my boy weep over losing a toy, because it meant a whole lot to him. It’s worth letting him cry when it’s time to leave a house, because he genuinely, wholeheartedly enjoyed this visit with people he loves. It’s worth watching those tears stain cheeks when he caused a little trouble at school, because he really, really regrets it.
Men have emotions too.
We feel things.
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