“Mother love has been much maligned. An over mothered boy may go through life expecting each new woman to love him the way his mother did. Her love may make any other love seem inadequate. But an unloved boy would be even more likely to idealize love. I don't think it's possible for a mother or father to love a child too much.” ThinkingWayMayChildrenHas BeensSeemsWould BeMotherFatherFamilyBoysToo MuchExpectingInadequateMother LoveUnloved Author:Frank Pittman
“Parents have subtle ways of humbling you, of reminding you of your origins, perhaps by showing up at the moment of your greatest glory and reminding you where you came from and demonstrating that you still have some of it between your toes.” WayStillsMomentsParentGlorySubtleToesRemindingHumblingShowing UpDemonstrating Author:Frank Pittman
“We become male automatically because of the Y chromosome and the little magic peanut, but if we are to become men we need the helpof other men--we need our fathers to model for us and then to anoint us, we need our buddies to share the coming-of-age rituals with us and to let us join the team of men, and we need myths of heroes to inspire us and to show us the way.” IfsMenWayNeedsLittlesShowsAgeFatherMagicTeamShareInspireHeroModelsMalesMythComing Of AgeRitualOur FatherBuddyPeanutsChromosomes Author:Frank Pittman
“I'm not suggesting that all men are beautiful, vulnerable boys, but we all started out that way. What happened to us? How did we become monsters of feminist nightmares? The answer, of course, is that we underwent a careful and deliberate process of gender training, sometimes brutal, always dehumanizing, cutting away large chunks of ourselves. Little girls went through something similarly crippling. If the gender training was successful, we each ended up being half a person.” IfsMenWayLittlesPersonsSometimesBeautifulGirlCoursesProcessAnswersHalfBoysSuccessfulCuttingHappenedTrainingFeministCarefulGenderMonstersVulnerableNightmareBrutalDeliberateSuggestingChunks Author:Frank Pittman
“Most of us have felt barriers between ourselves and our fathers and had thought that going it alone was part of what it meant to be a man. We tried to get close to our children when we became fathers, and yet the business of practicing masculinity kept getting in the way. We men have begun to talk about that.” MenWayChildrenFatherFeltOur ChildrenBarriersMeant To BeMasculinityBe A ManOur Father Author:Frank Pittman
“Marriage, like a submarine, is only safe if you get all the way inside.” IfsWayMarriageSafePositive MarriageSubmarinesLasting MarriageMarriage And FamilyEncouraging Marriage Author:Frank Pittman
“Family love can be a bore, but only when you are hearing it, never when you are relating it to the ones who will be carrying it out for you. A family without a storyteller or two has no way to make sense out of their past and no way to get a sense of themselves.” WayTwoPastFamilyHearingMake SenseBoresStorytellerFamily Love Author:Frank Pittman
