Boys to Men

In some parts of the world, more emphasis is laid on the grooming of the girl child in terms of how they should act and behave especially in relation to becoming good wives and mothers. Yes, we all want our girl child to develop into a responsible woman, but there is a lot more she can do and achieve as an exceptional wife and mother. In ensuring this, however, not much attention is paid to the boy child, which leads to them growing up with a sense of privilege over the girl child.

There are, all around the world mothers with sons who are fast transforming from boys to men. It is imperative that they are thought how to become proper men. They need to be given the adequate and necessary information. They need to be informed about how their actions or inaction could affect the mental health and growth of members of their family whom they are responsible for. It is important to make them understand deeply what the importance of their future role is. This will go a long way in preparing them for their God-given roles and responsibilities as husbands, fathers and members of any society.

For every responsible man out there, the chances of making a better world increases by recycling and grooming even more responsible men. Mothers make up a great percentage of humanity. While they are still boys under their care, it is the duty of mothers to transform them into forces to reckon with in terms of becoming exceptional men. Mothers are to tighten their belts in playing this role as marriage is not a rehab for underdeveloped men. In many parts of the world today, the intentional neglect of grooming the boy child has led to many of them growing up with a sense of privilege that breeds misunderstanding and confusion about their very significant role in the world, which is as a result of no fault of theirs. This is as a result of more emphasis being laid on the girl child rather than on both.

This would also have a positive impact on the increasingly alarming rate of divorce and bring about more understanding and tolerance between spouses. Let us change the narrative. While we groom and encourage our daughters to be future wives and mothers, so should we do the same for our boys. Using the same force and enthusiasm.

We can achieve this by understanding the basis for stereotypes' and raising the children to think differently, in a way that would foster harmony when they eventually become adults. In some parts of the world, the boy child is usually regarded with the following qualities; Independent, dominant, not easily hurt emotionally, tough, decisive, not talkative, secure, less sensitive to the feelings of others and rarely cries. Whereas, the girl child is brought up to believe that she must be dependent, submissive, home-oriented, easily hurt emotionally, talkative, sensitive to others feelings, emotional, kind and nurturing. while these qualities might seem to be more predominant in one over the other, we cannot ignore the fact that either can possess any one of these qualities regardless of whether they are a boy or girl. It all depends solely on the personality and qualities that each individual possesses. We are all unique in our individualities and we play our roles accordingly. That is why we sometimes have women labelled as bossy, only because she possesses innate qualities that is believed should be possessed by men. Boys can and should be allowed to be sensitive, just as girls can and should be able to be strong.

The reason for emphasizing the importance of a mother's role in this is because mothers know their children collectively and individually. As all children are unique, a mother would have her own unique experiences with her children, and have unique ways to ensure equal treatment and grooming. Also, mothers, who were once young girls would be able to appreciate and understand the importance of imbibing this culture into the upbringing of the boy child with the hope of encouraging better cooperation and harmony between the two genders as couples, colleagues at school, colleagues at work and as members of any society.

The truth is, they will never forget their mother's touch, advice and encouragement. When they eventually begin to experience the reality of it. Those mentions will begin to pop up in their minds. They need to learn and acquire a lot more information than they are usually given before they move on into the world. As young children and according to their ages and levels of maturity, every teaching moment counts.