Breaking Cycles: Navigating Masculinity in Parenting

For Father’s Day, the Modern Love team asked for your stories about fatherhood and emotional vulnerability. They heard from listeners who said that their dads rarely expressed their emotions, from listeners whose fathers wore their hearts on their sleeves and from fathers themselves who were trying to navigate parenting with emotional honesty and sensitivity. The stories had one thing in common: even just a peek into a father’s emotional world meant so much.

On this episode of Modern Love, we hear listener’s stories about their dads. Then, Terry Real, a family therapist, returns to the show to offer his advice on being a father while also showing kids what it means to be emotionally vulnerable and available. He offers his philosophy around parenting through a combination of techniques.

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