Life Outside Social Media

     I recently attended an orientation at MOMS Orange County, a non-profit organization that provides free access to prenatal care, health screenings, health education, and referral services for low-income families. It's an agency that primarily aims to empower new mothers to raise healthy newborns and establish strong bonds with the entire family during and after the pregnancy. While MOMS OC offers plenty of exceptional programs for all kinds of women, what really fascinated me about their vision is that they serve families holistically to deliver the best possible health outcomes for the new little member of the household.

     A service that I found particularly influential is the workshop for new fathers, in which "veteran" or experienced fathers bring their new infants and mentor fathers-to-be in basic skills of newborn care. While these hands-on training sessions help these men bond and empower each other, another remarkably compelling aspect of the workshop is providing a space for them to candidly share their feelings about this imminent phase of their lives. Since it's a male-only workshop, it reserves space for men to be vulnerable about their prospective roles as fathers and strong emotional supporters for their partners.

     The underlying purpose of this program is to encourage society to step away from toxic masculinity by ensuring that children won't grow up with absent or uninvolved fathers. Rather, it's a movement towards normalizing acts of love performed by men through acknowledgment of their integral role in shaping a healthy, functional family unit. Remarkable outcomes of these services from the past couple of decades show that parents working as a team truly leaves a powerful impact on the social and emotional development of the child. When a child grows up witnessing sincere acts of love between their parents and towards others, they tend to adopt the same nurturing behavior when forming close relationships as they mature.

     Innovative programs like these, no matter how seemingly small, ultimately serve to prove that vulnerability is power — not weakness. Stoicism, the absence of outward expression of emotion, needs to be detached from the image of masculinity as it fosters nothing but distant relationships that the next generations tend to bear through adulthood. If we could just implement this incredible service in every crevice of the planet, the world would become exponentially loving and kind. If men were taught to be unashamed of vulnerability by boldly nurturing the people they love — toxic masculinity would be nothing but a myth.

     Just imagine how different the world would be if men displayed unconditional love and support to their kids and their partners.

    ...where kids grew up modeling the warm and loving nature of their fathers instead of only associating it with mothers.

    ...where men listened, respected, and elevated the voices of women who nurtured them.

     ... and where men simply knew how to love.

     I m a g i n e    a    w o r l d    w h e r e    m e n        j u s t    k n e w    h o w    t o    l o v e .