Thoughtful Thursday: "Boys Don't cry"

The boys and I were on our way home and they were sharing a lollipop.

It was starting to melt and Matthew had the smallest little bit of left, but was savouring the experience.. licking and licking and licking...

But it was melting a lot on his clothes, so I said to him 'Let me help you' and took the bit of the stick and ate it.

He cried.

There was a man sitting not too far from us that went to him straight away and said 'No, boys don't cry'.

And he kept saying it, over and over. Then the boys started to say it. In my mind I was like 'Don't teach my children this'; I didn't say anything because you know how funny people can be.. especially on the buses here in the UK.

When we got off the bus... I told the boys. "You can cry. There is nothing wrong with crying. Don't cry over a lollipop because we can get another one.. but if you need to cry, you can cry ok?"

And the both went 'Ok, cry'. 

Honestly.. I have nothing against the man, he is only bringing out what he has learned since he was a child. And this is the problem.. he has been taught that boys don't cry.. so throughout his life he has kept emotions bottled in and suppressed... because of this thing his parents taught him.. how did he go through life? Numb? Angry?

These types of things we need to unlearn. Crying is release. Crying is good. Of course not too much because too much of everything is bad, but at least to be in tune with your emotions is something that is very important.

I want my boys to be emotionally intelligent and understand emotions and know how to express themselves. It's something that needs to be amongst boys more.

It really got me thinking, honestly. This motherhood journey, whew chile!