How many times have you heard someone urge a young man to “Be a man!” or “Man Up!”?  How many times have you said that to someone?   These words have been referred to as the most devastating words, detrimental to emotional wellbeing, that can be uttered to a growing young man.

 

They are meant to somehow encourage a young man to be tough when faced with a challenging situation. It supposedly urges better performance, with hope for better outcomes.  However, these words also encourage the young man to avoid his emotions.  Let’s be honest!  When someone is told to “man up”, they are not expected to respond with an open display of emotions, and are certainly not permitted to cry. 

​

This is a case in which you get what you ask for!  A young man asked to ignore his emotions and act tough does just that! The intended outcome of toughness yields the unfortunate side effect of an emotional shutdown – doing exactly as he was told. 

 

There are many situations when fathers can be locked into certain situational responses for the sake of “manning up”.  What if they could be liberated from this?  What if we could encourage them to press forward without telling them to leave their emotions behind? What if…?  

 

Introducing “DADDYUP”!

 

“DaddyUp” is about leading by example.  It is about being the role model father that our children so need and deserve.  “DaddyUp” says to embrace one's emotions and tolerate emotional expression in our children.  “DaddyUp” tells all that our presence, not our perfection is really what matters.  It says to anyone that a part of resilience is being emotionally honest.  “DaddyUp embodies the courage, commitment and consistency necessary to do all of the above.