Raising Emotionally Strong Boys: Stop Shutting Down Their Feelings

The Advisor with Stacey Chillemi · Jan 30, 2026 · 43m

He cries and you tell him to stop. He gets angry and you send him to his room. He feels everything loudly and the message he receives — quietly, consistently, without anyone meaning harm — is that his feelings are too much. That message does not disappear. It goes underground and shapes how he handles emotion for the rest of his life. Dr. Gloria Vanderhorst has spent nearly 50 years as a psychologist studying exactly what happens when boys are taught that their emotional range is a problem — and what parents can do instead to raise boys who can feel, connect, and communicate without shame…