Here are some tips :
• Give names to the feelings you see your son
experiencing . “ I see that you ’ re feeling frustrated about …” or “ I understand that you feel sad because …”
• Replace time-outs with time-ins using the Time-In Toolkit which helps children name , feel , and heal their emotions .
• Validate and accept your child ’ s emotions while
placing empathetic boundaries on behavior . For example , it ’ s okay to feel angry ; it ’ s not okay to hit someone . You may need to hold space for your son while he cries or processes heavy emotions , and this is done by simply being witness to his feelings while you remain warm , open , and loving .
• Give alternatives to inappropriate expressions . For example , when my son was younger , he had a tendency to hit others when he was angry . I started keeping a small box of pre-filled balloons in our calming corner . He loved to pop them when he was angry , and so it became his go-to release instead of hitting .
Boys are emotional beings . They are born with the same need for love and emotional connection and we ’ ve been starving them for far too long . Let ’ s raise a generation of emotionally healthy men by changing the way we view and accept emotional expression in boys and by giving them the tools they need to grow up happy , healthy , and whole . •
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