My Parenting Journey

There was a critical turning point for me when my son was three. After this incident my view about society’s role in shaping how women relate to the male species altered drastically. I was being put on a warrior’s path.

It was a Saturday. My son and I went fishing along a river, down a country lane. After we had been there for a while, I looked up to see “a gang of 5 or 6 boys” approaching us.

Something so guttural and instinctive spread panic through me. ‘Oh my god ~ a gang is coming and they probably will hurt us both. What am I going to do to protect us?’

It turned out this ‘gang’ was a group of upper elementary boys, the same age group I was teaching at the time. I should have known better than to react solely on their size and their gender. We were in no danger at all. Quite the contrary.

My reaction disturbed me greatly. I later reflected on my instinctive reaction in the moment and attempted to understand the logic, or lack of it, behind the intensity of the emotion involved.

But then came an image that became the catalyst for my future direction. My heart broke to think that someone, someday might see MY boy walk down a path, or down a street, or in the park and that fear would be the feeling that overwhelmed them. My boy. Incomprehensible. Utterly bizarre! And solely because he is a boy.

That image of some stranger being fearful of my little guy, my compassionate and empathic child, motivated me to action. I began a crusade to learn and then teach why this societal reaction was outdated and unacceptable. I learned everything I could about boy’s development and those widely-held expectations that provided fertile ground for assumptions and prejudices. And once I was on the path of educating myself, I became committed to also educate others. It became my mission! Truly, there is nothing more powerful than a mission grounded in passion and purpose. Then add that it is a mother’s mission ~ well, mountains will be moved!