Mothers and Sons

Last week, I got to teach on Mothers and Sons to a group of college age men attending the summer session of Training Ground (see my links). It was a great experience! These are some amazing guys. And we had a deep, intense but incredible time together.

Its becoming more well accepted that a father plays a huge role in a sons life, in his masculine journey, his becoming a man. But what about mom? What part does she play if any? That was the question we discussed. What does a man's journey look like with his mother? And how does that change as he gets older, moves out, gets married?

With the use of children's stories, movie clips, and the stuff of these guys stories, we talked through when we need our mothers immensely close, in infancy, and how we leave mom gradually throughout boyhood to explore the world beyond. We talked about the initiation years, how a man leaves his mom forever as a boy and returns to her to be respected as a man. And of, course we talked through how this all can go wrong... a father not coming to initation, a mother not letting go, or never nurturing in the first place, what a son does with his anger.

These guys were brave to shed tears, share honestly from their stories, and take another step in becoming all that their Father wants them to be as men. A beautiful time...