Love, love, love this article: How Crying Benefits Boys: Strong Minds and Happy Hearts.
There are so many reasons why it’s harmful and hurtful to tell boys not to cry. This article outlines some of the benefits, here’s a snip-it:
“Emotional crying (as opposed to tears from the wind or from cutting onions) provides a healthy way for the body to process intense stress and/or emotions. Researchers have discovered that the chemical makeup of these tears are different from non-emotional tears.
Emotional tears actually contain:
- Stress hormones (one of which is cortisol)
- Prolactin
- Natural painkiller (leucine encephalin)
- Manganese, which is a natural mood regulator
This chemical makeup of real tears is exactly why you feel better after a good cry. As the stress hormone leaves the body, the mental attitude frequently improves, and the crier feels relieved. When we tell boys not to cry, we are cutting off a healthy way for them to process emotions. As the stress hormones build up without release, it sets the stage for rage, anger, and depression.”
The article goes on to explain, what I so often talk about, that the narrow male gender role hurts boys:
“Telling boys not to cry furthers the gender stereotypes.
The research behind the chemical makeup of tears points out that emotional tears carry stress hormones out of the body – whether that body is male or female. That means that crying is not inherently a trait of femaleness; crying is within human nature.
When we tell boys not to cry, it does two things:
- It forces boys into a stereotype that forces a separation of all emotion from manhood.
- It makes any girl who cries inferior.
But crying isn’t just for girls. It’s for humans; it’s a safety valve to help us process emotions before we reach the critical point. Teach your sons to cry; teach them to process their emotions. Heck, just teach them about emotions. Teach your daughters empathy, to console a crying boy, to never mock a boy (or man) who cries.”
One of my favorite lines from the article, which I’ll leave you with:
“Heck, just teach them about emotions.”
whatsaboymom 