Parents are the primary influence during your children’s earliest years. We believe you can make a huge difference in your son’s behaviors by being a positive role model.
Here are some tips on how you can help the boys in your life develop into healthy men.
- Show that it’s okay to be vulnerable. Show boys positive ways to demonstrate difficult emotions.
- Ask for help. We all need help sometimes – and that’s OK. Let boys see you asking for help or acknowledging when you don’t know what to do.
- Smash stereotypes. Encourage an opinion. When watching TV or playing video games, help boys develop a healthy open attitude about what they see, and question stereotypes about women and men. Check out our research on representations of boys and men in media.
- Call out bullying. Affirm that bullying is not okay. Encourage boys to call it out when they see it – at home, at school or even on the TV.
- Identify inequalities and discuss them. Talk to your son about the ways some people face specific injustices. Read them inspirational stories about men who have acted as allies.
- Break the bedtime mold. Make story time inspiring. Choose a few books that engage boys in healthy ideas of manhood. Explore our GBI Top Picks: Books Edition.
- Lead with action. Teach by example at all times. Model equality, call out injustices, calmly resolve conflicts and let your sons witness it.
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