this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2025
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To start: no, there are no "trusted male figures" in our lives. My brothers & father are all conservative, and I DO NOT trust them to properly explain things without shame and/or religious context.

My son knows the basics of reproduction, but I've never really explained what's "normal" things for a teenage boy to go through.. mainly because I don't know!

I've definitely put it off, so he's almost 14 and is much more physically mature than most of his peers (he's got hair in places, shaves his face regularly, etc.).. but I'm embarrassed to admit that I know next to nothing about anything else..

Could y'all help me out? What did you go through that he should know about? What should I know about?

Many thanks to anyone who can help. Please don't be unkind. Much appreciated.

EDIT: Thank you so much for all the advice so far!! Please keep it up!!

My son & I have very open communication & a very good relationship.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, it's definitely not an "every male" thing. But other than that, it does contain good advice if it does end up being relevant. And if non-conservative males are tough to find in her area, odds are higher that her son could be encountering those types of influences outside the home.

I was a "relatively" weak guy growing up, videogames with no exercise or weights, I did do some physical chores and participated in most of my gym classes, lol, but I was for sure still way stronger than my mom, and she had a manual labour job. It is unfortunately very likely to be the case even if you grow up a nerd as a guy. And, in the potential case of him growing up athletic with a non-athletic mom, it can indeed be a huge difference. Not quite a shrek and fiona thing... but not as far off as we'd hope.

It can be a reasonable fear as a single mom to a teen guy growing up in a conservative area. And while it isn't a description of every guy, if the description is sounding like it fits, then those are valid concerns and things that should be addressed and headed off before they can't be.

My brother wasn't very athletic either, but a little more than I was. And he wasn't very rebellious, but a little more than I was. Only once did he ever hurt our mom physically, and it was when he was 13 and treated her the same way he would treat his friends in a heated argument, just gave her a shove... they both learned very quickly that a different approach was needed. That was with a kid who felt bad that he hurt his mom... we had friends(temporarily) that didn't feel bad about that... those friends stopped being friends pretty quick and are mostly in jail or dead now.

We live in a small town, not super religious or conservative, but I would guess about half and half. And it was about 10% of boys that this advice applied to. In a place where conservatism or religion are further entrenched, that percentage doesn't just go up linearly. The less sources of proper behaviour you see to counter the argument that people should behave "naturally"... even the nerds eventually succumb.

Be glad you had a childhood where this advice comes across as ridiculous.