Student Wellbeing

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At the end of a recent Student Wellbeing conference; as a small committee we were sitting down to set the agenda for our next meeting.  A young female teacher turned to the group and mentioned about engaging a guest speaker to talk about boy’s and men’s health. She then turned to me and asked, ‘What do you think?’

I was speechless … but when I caught my breath, I thanked her for recognising the importance of this valuable topic.  Being the only male on this committee, I guess what surprised me the most was the insight this young teacher has gained after such a short teaching career about the issues facing boys.

I am not going to write, compare, point out gender differences in this short piece. What I am going to say is, we need to think as a society about the models we are setting for our boys.  

My question for the men in our SFX community is, 

‘What is your idea about what it means to be a man in 2019?’

Wow, yes I put it out there! My guess is it is much different to the mental constructs inherited from our own fathers. Is this what we are wishing for the next generation of men? I found this clip called, ‘The Man Box’ and it is by the Jesuit Social Service. This website and clip is certainly worth a look.  

https://jss.org.au/what-we-do/the-mens-project/the-man-box/

Yes, much needs to be done for our current generation of boys destined to become men. What that looks like is influenced through the positive mental constructs and self worth we build for our boys! This can only be achieved when our current generation of men have built them for themselves. 

Thanks for listening,

Guy

PS Gents save the date for the Parish Men’s night on Friday November 22nd. 

More details to follow!