FFN 097: Boys Need Dads
Episode Stats
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181.03075
Summary
In the wake of the Florida school shooting, it's no longer acceptable to call yourself a man unless you are a good one. In this episode, Ryan talks about the importance of reclaiming masculinity, and why we need to stop putting a bandaid on problems that are becoming too common.
Transcript
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You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest, embrace your fears, and boldly chart
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your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time.
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You are not easily deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life. This is who
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you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done,
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you can call yourself a man. Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler,
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and I am the host and founder of this podcast, The Order of Man. I want to welcome you back to
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the show today. I've got a good one lined out for you today and one that I really think needs to be
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addressed now more than ever has in society. If you are new to the show, I want to welcome you here
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and give you a couple of very quick steps so you can tap fully into the power of this movement of
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reclaiming masculinity in a world that more and more seems to dismiss it entirely until we're
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deemed worthy to do what it is we do best. We obviously think a little differently than that
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here. We believe men and masculinity are not toxic, not a detriment to society and civilization,
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but a much needed part of it. So to that end, we are interviewing the world's most successful men
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and delivering the messages straight to you. So here's what you need to do. If you're just getting
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started with The Order, first, follow us on social media. It's all at Order of Man, whether it's
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Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, wherever you're doing the social media thing, it's all at Order
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of Man. And then second, join our closed Facebook group. We've got over 43,000 men in that group
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right now. You can go to facebook.com slash groups slash Order of Man. And third, you may want to
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consider joining the Iron Council. This is our exclusive brotherhood. We've got roughly 360 men from all over
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the planet who are engaging in some very, very meaningful discussions, conversations, challenges,
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all designed to push and test us as men. And of course we have the accountability and the
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brotherhood that comes with that as well. So if you're looking for an elevated conversation and
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really want to do a deep dive and start implementing more than you want to talk about being a better
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man, the Iron Council is exactly where you'll want to be. You can go to orderofman.com slash Iron
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Council. With that said, guys, let me introduce you to our show sponsor, and then we'll get to the show
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for today. This show is sponsored by NetSuite by Oracle. You've heard me talk about them before for
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growing businesses like Order of Man and like many of yours who are listening in. Every company
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What I like most about NetSuite is that it levels the playing field. It just levels the playing field
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the five barriers to growth guide today at NetSuite.com slash man, NetSuite.com slash man guys with
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that, let's get into our discussion for today. I'm sure you're all well aware of the drug abuse and
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suicide and violent crime rates with regards to our young men. It's all over the headlines these days.
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And with the latest school shooting in Florida, uh, it's becoming impossible to ignore. In fact,
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we don't want to ignore it guys. There's a real problem here. And while the rest of the world seems
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to be focused on gun control and legislation, and not that I'm above having those conversations,
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this is all in hopes of putting a bandaid. It's just a bandaid over the problems that are becoming
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all too common. And I'd encourage us here within the order of man to look at the actual root of the
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problem. We need to get down to the root of the problem, which I believe, and I've talked about
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this at length before as fatherless homes. I wanted to share some statistics with you as I was
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preparing for this show. Uh, 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. 85% of children who show
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behavior disorders, again, come from fatherless homes. 71% of all high school dropouts are from
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fatherless homes. 70% of youths in state operated institutions, again, come from homes without
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fathers. And the last statistic I ran across is that 85% of all youths in prison, 85% of all youths
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in prison come from homes without fathers. Now I could go on and on and on about the details and
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the stats and everything else. But I think that it's very easy to see that there's a problem with
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fathers being absent in the home. I do want to be very clear here though, guys, this is not okay.
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This is not intended to put down women who are raising children on their own. I know sometimes
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that is the situation that is the deal. And in many cases, it's the better situation than having
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an abusive father in the house. All right. My mom did this for much of our early life and she did a
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terrific job raising me and my sister on her own. But that said, the facts are the facts. And this is
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what the data is telling us that homes without fathers, the boys in those homes are struggling.
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And I know I can also talk with you about the impact on girls when fathers are absent. But for
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the sake of this discussion, I want to talk about boys exclusively because it's boys who are
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perpetuating much of the problems that we're seeing in society. And I believe the solution is homes again,
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where fathers are present and not only present, but actually engaged in the raising of their children.
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And so what I wanted to do today is to help connect the dots, just connect the dots between
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boys and fathers and why this relationship is so critical. It's so critical for the wellbeing of our
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sons and frankly, as society as a whole. So here are five reasons. This is five reasons today why dads
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are needed now more than ever. Number one, protect children from danger. One of our primary
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responsibilities as fathers is to protect our children from danger, not shield them. I'm not
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talking about bubble wrapping them from the difficulties of life, but to keep our children
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safe from physical and emotional harm. When we are not present for our children, the way that we should
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be these dangers and they are real and they are prevalent. They creep into their lives and expose these
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children to horrible, horrible atrocities that no child should ever have to witness and left unchecked.
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If these atrocities are committed and these are left unchecked, the negative experiences, those things
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will pour over into their adult lives and damage the way they view the world moving forward. So number
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one, our job is to protect our children from danger. Number two, we have to harness the power of
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masculinity into productive outcomes. There is a raw masculine energy coursing through our sons'
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veins, but this is a good thing. I know society likes to demonize and villainize this, but it's not,
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it's a good thing. It's the masculine power and energy that when it's fully developed is going to allow
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our boys to go into the world the way that a healthy man does and produce, produce for himself and his
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family, his community. And when these energies are not harnessed and they're not focused and they're
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not matured, they're released in a negative and a destructive and obviously in sometimes a very
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violent way. Our boys are being raised. If you look at this by, by women at home and in the school
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system who will never fully understand this masculine energy that our boys possess. They're told to sit down,
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shut up, do as you're told, don't act out. When in all reality, the potential energy that these boys
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wield is being suppressed and it's going to find a way to escape. And when it does, it's going to be
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unproductive. It's going to be wild. And again, sometimes it's going to be violent. So if our sons
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are angry, good, it's okay to be angry. It's our job to teach them how to harness that anger. If our sons
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are feeling threatened, that's okay. It's okay to feel threatened. It's our job to teach them how to
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equip themselves to deal with the threats that they see. That's going to be their job. If our sons
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are feeling rage, that's good too. That's okay. It's okay to experience rage, but it's our job as men
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to channel that rage into a healthy outcome. A boy can only, he can only learn how to harness this power
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from someone who has already learned how to harness this power. It's common sense or, or should be
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common sense, but it seems like it isn't. It's like asking someone who's never played the guitar to
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teach someone how to play the guitar. Only obviously at a much higher stake here, a student cannot learn
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from a teacher who does not know. All right, guys, number three, help develop hard and soft skills
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required to succeed. A man's job. And I've said this over and over and over. If you've listened
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to the podcast for any amount of time, you've heard me say it. His job is to protect, provide
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and preside. He cannot be capable of doing that unless he learns the specific skills that are
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required to succeed at all three of those. And unless a boy learns what those skills are, he's going to
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wander around aimlessly in life until he figures out how, or he does something stupid in order to find
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some sort of misguided meaning and significance that he is desperately craving. It's basic automotive
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and home repair, using a firearm, lifting weight, shaking another person's hand, being self-reliant,
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holding a conversation, telling a joke, chopping firewood, developing discipline, could be courting
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a woman, doing homework, becoming situationally aware, throwing punches, displaying self-restraint.
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There's so much more. And all of these things are critical to a young man's development in life.
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I know I'm missing other skills here. Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list of things that a
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boy should learn, but this is simply a starting point with regards to teaching a boy what he needs
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to know in order to fully protect, provide and preside over himself, his family, his business,
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his community, and his life in general. All right. Number four, foster physical, mental,
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and emotional strength. Let's face it guys. Life is tough. That's the reality of the hand that we're
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dealt. We don't always want it to work out like that, but want has nothing to do with it. Life is
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hard. And I know parents who spend so much time coddling their children that they're actually doing
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them a disservice in their later years because they've never built up. The kids have never built up
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the physical, mental, and emotional strength to thrive on their own. So I want to look at human
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nature here for a second. All right. Think about this. When a boy, when a boy falls off his bike and
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he scrapes his knee, what does mom typically do? She's rushes over to him and she kisses his boo-boo,
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right? But a man doesn't rush over at all. In fact, he doesn't even move. He tells his son to get up,
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to wipe himself off and to get back on the bike. So don't misunderstand me guys. There's a
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time and a place for both of these approaches, but that's not what's happening. What's happening
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is that our boys are becoming weaker and weaker because they're only getting one side of the
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equation, the soft effeminate side. Then when a boy enters the real world and someone challenges him
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or makes him feel a little uncomfortable, he tries to run to mommy, but mommy isn't around.
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So what does he do? He lashes out. That's what he does. He lashes out like an animal backed into a
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corner because he doesn't know any better. And he ends up leaving this wake of destruction in his
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path. Dads, it's your job not to keep your boys out of difficult situations. Your job is to expose
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them in controlled environments. This way, when life gets hard and it will, you know that your sons
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have acquired the fortitude and the toughness and the grit to face whatever that challenge is on their
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feet. And the last topic I wanted to cover with you guys today is number five, enforcing consequences
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for poor choices. There are consequences for our choices. And our job as fathers is to enforce.
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It's to enforce those consequences on our children. It's not easy. All right. It's not fun, but who said
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this portion of the job was supposed to be, you know, I see kids yelling at their parents in grocery
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stores. I see kids quit on schooling and sports teams because it gets a little hard. I see moms
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and dads to swoop in and they'll blame school districts. When little Timmy makes a bad choice.
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If my children are going to make stupid decisions and they will just like we did, I want them to fully,
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to fully experience and live with the result of those choices. So they don't do it again. That's the
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point. If it hurts to do dumb things, maybe they won't keep doing dumb things. And I know people
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are going to say, Ryan, how could you be so insensitive? You tell me what's worse, letting
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my children live with the results of their actions or giving them this false sense of reality that they
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can do whatever the hell they want with no repercussions. Guys, I realized I'm skimming the surface
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on a very deep and multi-dimensional subject. These trends of crime and drug abuse and violence,
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they're not going to change overnight. But if we, as men can step into the role of father
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and exemplify masculine behavior, we're going to be giving our boys a leg up as they venture off
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on their own to start their families and run their businesses and eventually lead us,
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lead their communities. I'm fully on board for exploring what needs to be done about the
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consequences of a fatherless society. But until we address the real root of the problem,
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we will continue to see the horrors that I think we've only begun to experience. Now,
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there's no amount of legislation that can replace the power of a well-fathered home.
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Our job as fathers is to protect our children, guys. It's to harness the power of masculinity
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into productive outcomes, to help develop hard and soft skills that our boys are going to need
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to succeed. It's to foster physical, mental, and emotional strength, and then to enforce
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consequences of poor choices. This is how we raise healthy boys. And healthy boys is exactly what
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society needs. So guys, as I sign off today, remember, if you would share this message,
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we need more men to hear this. We need more men to step up in the walls of their home,
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in their communities, in their businesses. This is how we solve the problem. So connect with us on
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social media at Order of Man on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, wherever you are.
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Number two, join our closed Facebook group I mentioned earlier. And then third, consider
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joining our exclusive brotherhood, the Iron Council. We're talking about this subject
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inside the Iron Council and about a thousand other things that you may be interested in. So
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we'd love to see you there. Orderofman.com slash Iron Council. But until next week, gentlemen,
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take action. Be a good father. And by the way, it doesn't require you being a biological father.
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There are opportunities for you to step up as a father figure in your community. And if that's
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an opportunity you can take advantage of, then I would encourage you to do that. So be a good
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father and become a man you are meant to be. Thank you for listening to the Order of Man podcast.
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You're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be.
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We invite you to join the order at orderofman.com.