Rescue the Boys: The Emotional Emergency for the Boy Child
It’s 2025. We’re talking AI lawyers, electric cars, and 3D-printed homes. Yet, somehow, we’re still raising the boy child like it’s 1925.
We’ve celebrated Children’s day, that annual chance to post baby pictures, forward sugary WhatsApp messages, and maybe let the kids overdose on bouncy castles and sweets. But behind the colourful cupcakes and party caps, lies a crisis nobody’s talking about our boys are emotionally starving.
And just a few weeks ago, we marked the International Day of the Boy Child on May 16. But what changed? What really shifted in those few days between celebrating boyhood and “moving on”?
The truth is bitter: we are raising broken men in real time.
Boys are not in crisis because they’re naturally violent. Or difficult. Or less intelligent.
They are in crisis because generation after generation, we’ve taught them to lock away the very emotions that make them human. We tell them to “man up” before they even learn how to speak up. We hand them toy guns instead of teddy bears, then wonder why they grow up guarded, angry, or emotionally distant.
It’s a silent epidemic. And silence, especially emotional silence, is deadly.
At RescueTheBoys, our mission is simple but urgent: to radically shift how we raise, engage, and protect the emotional lives of boys, from toddlers to teenagers. This isn’t about blame. It’s about responsibility. About interrupting cycles before they become prisons.
From the very beginning, boys are taught that emotional expression equals weakness.
“Don’t cry.”
“Boys don’t feel, they fix.”
“Act like a man.”
These phrases aren’t harmless. They’re emotional chokeholds. Slowly, they teach boys to shrink, not in height, but in heart.
And this conditioning doesn’t stop at home. It extends into schools, religious institutions, and even the policies that shape our nations.
Ask a teacher who the “troublemakers” are, and the answer is usually boys. The ones who lash out, zone out, or shut down entirely. But what if we reframed the question? What if those behaviors aren’t signs of rebellion, but cries for connection?
In Nigeria, over 127,000 secondary school students dropped out in 2023, with boys accounting for over 56% (Education Vanguard, 2025). These numbers aren’t just statistics, they are silent screams from children slipping through our fingers.
And in churches and mosques? Boys are taught to be leaders, providers, protectors. All noble ideals, until they become cages. Vulnerability is sidelined, pain is spiritualized, and boys learn to zip up their emotions in the name of manhood.
Boys who once cried freely now say “I’m fine” with vacant eyes. Boys who once danced in the living room now hide behind anger or silence. Some explode. Others implode.
We say “boys don’t talk,” but the truth is: nobody is really listening.
Mental health services are abysmal. Nigeria has just 300 psychiatrists for over 200 million people. Safe spaces for boys? Scarce. Public campaigns speaking directly to their emotional reality? Almost nonexistent.
This is not just a private tragedy, it’s a public threat. Emotionally stunted boys become men who struggle to maintain relationships, manage anger, or even seek help.
From rap lyrics to Nollywood scripts, masculinity is painted in extremes, violent, dominant, emotionless. Our screens tell boys that crying kills credibility and that softness is shameful.
But media can be reimagined. What if our stories let boys be whole? Let them cry, create, care, and connect? What if we stopped mocking their emotions and started modeling emotional fluency?
Representation matters. So does narrative. Because boys become what they constantly consume.
So, what can you do today?
Let’s stop waiting for policy shifts or divine intervention. You, yes, you, can be part of this rescue mission.
👨👩👦👦 If you’re a parent; Ask your son how he’s really feeling. Don’t fix. Just listen. Make emotions feel safe.
If you’re a sibling or friend; Check in. Be a safe space. Normalize vulnerability in your circle.
If you’re a teacher; Look beyond the “bad behavior.” Ask, “What’s this child trying to express?”
If you’re a religious leader; Preach the full gospel, the one that makes room for tears.
Remind boys that God made emotions, too.
If you’re in government; Fund healing. Budget for school counselors. Create mentorship programs. Invest in early emotional education.
Rescue the Boys. Rescue the Future.
This Children’s Day, do more than post the throwback photos. Ask yourself: What kind of boy am I raising? What kind of boys are we neglecting?
Because behind every “tough” boy is often a scared child, desperate to be seen. Behind every “quiet” one, there’s often pain buried deep beneath silence.
It’s time to disrupt the silence. It’s time to rescue the boys, not just from poverty or illiteracy, but from invisibility.
“The future of the male child isn’t a conversation for tomorrow. It’s a call for action today.”
— Mrs. Oyinade Samuel-Eluwole, Founder, Elizabethan H&H Foundation
At Elizabethan Foundation, we are rewriting the story for the male gender, one healed heart at a time. We’re building programs, sparking conversations, and creating safe spaces for boys to become emotionally whole men.
Learn more. Volunteer. Donate. Share.
Use your voice. Use your platform. Rescue a boy today and you just might rescue a generation.
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