It’s Our Job to Teach Our Boys Emotional Skills Too

Our sons need us to teach them emotional skills. Life skills. Emotional skills. Coping skills. They all need to be taught. That’s part of our job as parents. If we do not acquire certain skills as children their absence has adverse consequences on the grown up version of the person we become.

It’s plain to us all that we carry our childhood with us throughout our adult lives. The traumas of childhood stay with us as we grow into adults.

We treasure the happiness of our childhood days and try to replicate them for our own children. The skills we learn as children put us in good stead as adults.

As parents we need to remember that teaching our children emotional skills is vital too. Especially important to remember when it comes to parenting our boys, even if it means fighting stereotypes.

One of my first and lasting memories of an encounter with my mother-in-law was her standing behind an ironing board proudly removing the creases from my husband-to-be’s police uniform. She looked at me, and said, half-smiling,

“Soon it will be you doing this.”

My response was automatic and swift,

“No, soon he will be ironing his uniforms himself.”

She looked shocked and amused in one.

This exchange became a bit of a standing joke between my husband and I, but I learned quickly enough when we started living together that it had a more serious side.

Head over to The Good Men Project to read more of You Carry Your Childhood With You into Adulthood.