Teaching young boys independence and empathy is vital, as individuals seek self-sufficient partners, preventing strained future relationships.
Parenting plays a very important role in shaping individuals into self-sufficient adults. With the correct guidance, kids will grow up to be independent and possess emotional resilience. And as most people want self-sufficient partners, it becomes even more necessary to teach young boys to be independent and empathetic beings, ensuring they don't become a source of undue responsibility for their future partners. Parents are now addressing this topic on social media, demonstrating how they educate their sons about self-care, encompassing both physical and emotional aspects.
The trend was initiated by content creator Payal Desai (@payalforstyle), identifiable through the hashtag #TeachingOurSons or the usage of the hit 1995 song "I Got Five On It" by Luniz and Michael Marshall.
Having two sons, Desai now has an entire playlist titled "No Dusty Sons" on her account with 15 posts which all cover how she teaches her boys to be more self-sufficient. Many of her videos have millions of views. The most viewed video, which has roughly 5.7M views on the platform, covers how she teaches her son to indulge in proper skincare so that his future partner does not have to justify their costly skincare routines to him. The post is captioned "No dust here," and we see the mother and her son in the bathroom dabbing their face with skincare products.
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Another popular video of hers which now has 2.7 million views, involves her teaching the boy to wash his own dishes. The text overlay reads, "Teaching my son how to clean up after himself so your daughter doesn't have to deal with a man who was catered to his whole life."
Ever since her first video about teaching her sons retail therapy—which has garnered over 4.3 million views—she has consistently posted videos where she imparts various other lessons to her boys. From organization skills to introducing them to women's sports, she has genuinely imbibed them with valuable lessons that will remain with them well throughout their adult life. There are also videos where she teaches basics like cleaning their room, packing correctly for a trip, healthily expressing feelings and even the most mundane things like putting the toilet seat down.
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She went on to explain her reasoning for doing the series in a separate video. Desai states how women tend to be very accommodating of men and go out of their way to stroke egos so they are not hurt. She ends the video by saying that even though the videos are funny, it has shown her how much of a difference proper guidance of young boys can make.
People who watched her videos agreed with her parenting style. She received roughly 3.8k comments on her popular dish-washing video. @semikoshay743 commented, "Love this. More mothers need to teach their sons as things like cooking and cleaning are valuable life skills for a man to look after himself."
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@bananas23340 also highlighted the importance of basic skills, saying, "Exactly! Such basic life skills that we all should be doing. Will be teaching my son the same!" @lenny_suburban comedically asked, "Is it too late to send this to my mother-in-law."
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