By Michael Weston
International Men’s Day is set aside to recognise and celebrate men’s various achievements and contributions worldwide.
International Men’s Day is also a day set aside to collaborate towards achieving shared objectives applied equally to men and boys irrespective of age, ability, social background, ethnicity, sexuality, gender identity, religious belief, and relationship status.
The 6 Pillars of International Men’s Day are:
- To promote positive male role models; not just movie stars and sportsmen but every day, working class men who are living decent, honest lives
- To celebrate men’s positive contributions to society, community, family, marriage, child care, and to the environment
- To focus on men’s health and wellbeing; social, emotional, physical and spiritual
- To highlight discrimination against men; in areas of social services, social attitudes and expectations, and law
- To improve gender relations and promote gender equality
- To create a safer, better world; where people can be safe and grow to reach their full potential
This November 2024, International Men’s Day’s theme is ‘Positive Role Models’ (Pillar 1).
When I hear ‘Positive Role Models’, I think of my responsibility to my own kids. Reflecting on the way my father raised myself and my brother, it was rare to hear words from his mouth such as ‘I love you’ or ‘I’m proud of you’. It was more common to be told to ‘stop crying, you’re embarrassing yourself’ or ‘only girls cry so stop it’.
On reflection, my father was not being a ‘Positive Role Model’, he was really telling us to bottle everything up inside and get over it. I have never blamed my father, I love him immensely and he was only bringing his boys up as my grandfather brought up my father in life.
Mental Illness statistics are showing that 9 people will take their lives to suicide in Australia every single day. Out of the 9 suicides, on average 7 suicides are male and 2 are female. You see women are more open to speaking openly about how they are honestly feeling and showing their vulnerability. I can only put this down to a generation of young boys and men like myself having an upbringing of fathers like mine telling us to suppress such emotions. THIS HAS TO CHANGE!
My role as a father to my kids has always been one of being present, honest, supportive and loving. It was important to me when my wife and I had our first child that I would have a significantly different style of parenting than that of my father. I wanted to be a ‘Positive Role Model’.
One of the leading illnesses affecting males of all ages is anxiety and depression, which can lead to suicide. It is so important that in this day and age, we change the narrative by showing our kids, in particular young boys and men, that it is ok to not be ok, it’s ok to cry and we as fathers are there to listen without judgement, provide advice and support when needed. Importantly, we need to give them a hug and say that we love them.
Being a ‘Positive Role Model’ to our kids today is one of the most important things you could do for your kids’ future. It’s about changing the mental health narrative today so our young boys grow into men who are more aware of their own mental health and will pass this onto future generations.
