Boys Don’t Cry. They Do!

We live in a world where we are constantly told that boys/men are now more in touch with their emotions, show their emotions more and are happy to cry in public.

For me the truth is yes that may be the case in a small percentage of men, but whenever I see a magazine, something on television or social media, it’s all about big strong men protecting their women. Staying strong in the face of adversity or while the world is falling apart the man stays strong for the little lady and never shows emotion. They jut out their chiselled jaw, flex their biceps and give that steely look of determination and strength, that everything will be ok while they wrap their arms around the woman.

All of this marketing of the big strong man, is in my humble opinion not only doing men an injustice, but also and I think more importantly women. It is making women look weak, and utterly dependent on men and that is far from the truth. Women are strong, if not stronger than men, but I feel that has always been the case, not just in today’s world.

As a father and a man I have cried more often than I care to mention. Some are tears of joy, sadness and sometimes pride that I feel for my children. So here are few instances where I have not been able to control my emotions and tears have spontaneously run down my cheeks.

Of course this will destroy the myth that men are strong and never show emotion. The more I think about how often I have cried in my life, the more I realise just how many times there have been.

1. A few years ago my children made me a framed picture for my birthday, which was all their names in scrabble type arrangement. When I looked at it, I’m not sure what it was, but it was that they had gone out of their way to do something so lovely for me to keep forever. Tears of joy without a doubt.

2. Over the years when it comes to my children I have cried many times, simply with pride with what they have achieved. One particular moment that I will always remember is when my now 20 year old daughter received her A’level results. It was an incredibly stressful time leading up to the results, because the grades she required for entry to study nursing was 1 A and 2 B’s. We didn’t have to worry about that because she achieved 2 A’s and 1 B. Upon finding out her results I remember just hugging her and telling her how proud I was and that I loved her so much. All through the haze of tears.

3. One time when my tears were one of total sadness, and if I’m honest I will always struggle to understand why. It was when my biological father died. On hearing the news from my sister in a phone call that he was close to death it was a shock, because I had not been in contact with him for 15 years, which is the strange part for when I burst into tears and actually couldn’t put two words together without breaking down. He was a very errant and poor father, so why I was so emotional I will never be able to work out. It took me many months to come to terms with my biological father dying.

So men can show emotion and shed tears. It’s normal, it’s not a sign of weakness, as is portrayed by the media.

If anything I see the fact that I can cry and show emotion, which I have done on many occasions, a sign of strength.

What do you think? I would love to hear.