THREE THINGS YOU MUST NEVER SAY TO A BOY WHO HAS NO FATHER

1. They should never hear that they are somehow the reason their
mother is raising a child on her own. Young boys will internalize that
sense of "fault" and their actions will show they feel that burden.
2. They should never hear that expectations for them are somewhat dampened because of their...
realities. We all can be overwhelmed by the statistics about young boys who grow up without fathers: the
high-school dropout rates, the number of boys not reading at grade
levels, the number in correctional facilities. But never litter their
thinking with the stats that place them in a category where success
means they are some sort of anomaly.
3. And maybe most importantly, they should never hear that an accident
of birth will somehow define them or limit them. Being fatherless,
despite being heartbreaking, is a circumstance; it is not a
conclusion. Surround them with people who teach them that the world is
much bigger than what is directly in front of them. In other words,
teach them what it means to be free.
The conversation about fatherless boys often circles around what we
should tell them, how we motivate them, how we incentivize them. Those
things are important. But what matters most is what you don't say to
them.