By Casey Neill
Teaching our boys that it’s okay to cry is no easy task.
But Gus Worland is doing his best to turn the tide, including releasing a new picture book about building mental fitness.
Gus is a Gotcha4Life founder, speaker, and mental fitness advocate, and appears on TV and radio to encourage men to share their feelings.
He took the outdated phrase ‘boys don’t cry’ and crafted the warm and humorous Boys Do Cry, about a boy who’s having a really bad day.
No matter what happens, he will not, should not, cannot cry! Or can he?
“I’ve always wanted to write a children’s book,” Gus said.
“I have so many wonderful memories of reading kids’ books to my three kids and my godchildren, as well.
“It’s a really simple book and it’s one that, hopefully, kids enjoy but also carers, parents, and grandparents.
“They might learn a trick or two as well as they read it. That was my hope – that it’s an experience that everyone can learn something from in a minute.”
Dads are telling Gus the book has changed the way they look at their sons, the way they look at themselves.
“Obviously, you want people to enjoy it – but not just enjoy it, actually learn something from it and then put a slightly different habit into how they parent,” he said.
Gus said ‘boys don’t cry’ was a difficult expectation to turn around.
“For so long we were just told to ‘man up and shut up’,” he said.
“It’s gonna take a few generations for that to turn around, but we’re definitely going in the right direction.
“We really need to focus on these young generations and let them know that it’s not ‘man up and shut up’ – it’s ‘man up and speak up’.
“And speaking up and talking about how you feel is absolutely the way forward, because the old school way isn’t working.
“It doesn’t mean we burst into tears every five minutes or have a meaningful conversation every time we talk, but it does mean that we can talk about how we feel with the right people.”
Gus said that to eliminate the phrase, we all need to be better listeners.
“Kids are growing up in a very different world to the world that parents and grandparents grew up in,” he said.
“Plus, it always comes down to being caring enough and loving enough to be curious about how someone truly feels and not just assuming that because you felt a certain way, that everyone else feels the same way.
“That’s gotta be an absolute focus. It’s up to all of us.”
Gus hopes to follow Boys Do Cry with a series of picture books.
