Raising Emotionally Strong Boys: Stop Shutting Down Their Feelings

He cries and you tell him to stop. He gets angry and you send him to his room. He feels everything loudly and the message he receives — quietly, consistently, without anyone meaning harm — is that his feelings are too much. That message does not disappear. It goes underground and shapes how he handles emotion for the rest of his life. Dr. Gloria Vanderhorst has spent nearly 50 years as a psychologist studying exactly what happens when boys are taught that their emotional range is a problem — and what parents can do instead to raise boys who can feel, connect, and communicate without shame. What she shares about the five practical shifts that change how boys experience their own emotions will make you look differently at every moment you have ever said stop crying. You were not wrong to want peace. You just needed a better tool. This episode gives you one. In this episode, you’ll learn:✅ Why “stop crying” teaches boys it’s not safe to feel ✅ How over-scheduling + screens reduce social-emotional growth ✅ What healthy emotional development in boys actually looks like ✅ How to support men’s emotions without fixing, defending, or shutting them down ✅ 5 practical parenting shifts to raise boys who can connect, communicate, and thrive Connect with Dr. Gloria K. Vanderhorst! Website: https://drvanderhorst.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gloria-vanderhorst-ph-d-730826b/ Business Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drvanderhorst Personal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gloria.vanderhorst.7 Substack: https://gloriavanderhorstphd.substack.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/resultssp=mAEB&search_query=gloria+vanderhorst Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices