24/06/2025
Teenage boys are falling through the cracks. As they grow, they are faced with cultural, online and peer pressure to ‘be a man’. They look to their role models - the men in their lives, the absence of men who don’t show up in their lives, the online influencers they’re bombarded with, telling them how to be a man. This becomes their blueprint. Quite often, it’s a bleak and scary blueprint. Having a safe adult community of men to wrap around a young adolescent boy can make the difference between a meaningful, purposeful life and a life of self-doubt, addiction and isolation. This community of men would do well to teach boys what courage there is in being real and vulnerable; the value of emotional connection and that a sense of belonging is much richer than independence. Many fathers are expressing the wounds of generational trauma because they are imprisoned in their emotional shutdown - and the cost is high. Did you know that fathers typically withdraw by 50% during their son’s teenage years, often when they’re needed most? For boys, the spike in su***de rates is 4 to 5 times higher than girls during adolescence. Many are drowning in emotional isolation and struggling to find themselves - searching for direction in all the wrong places. Boys aren’t struggling with online addiction, they’re struggling to find role models for compassionate, authentic manhood. If you’re a father and you’re reading this, show up for your son. Resolve the generational trauma, talk it out, be the father you needed when you were a kid. Be a safe, kind man and guide these kids to have faith in themselves. This is how we save these kids.
