1. Let the boys feel that it is okay to cry, it’s okay to be sensitive, it’s okay to be romantic without being stoically manly about it.

2.It’s okay to want to be a prince, let them know that they don’t have to only want to be the king. Tell them it’s okay to love flowers for the sole reason of them loving it, not because they bring it for you to smile warmly at them.

3. Tell them it’s okay to feel weak, tell them it’s okay to love their body, they can suffer from self-hatred too, we’re not the only ones being targeted for body shaming. We aren’t the only ones.

4. Tell them it’s okay to feel heart-broken. They feel grief equally as us. Yes, they do. Just because it is “said” we are more emotional, doesn’t mean they don’t feel bad at all. They do. Maybe even more, perhaps.

5. Tell them there is nothing weak about being crushed. There is nothing wrong or “lame” with missing their girl for months and pining for her. Tell them it’s okay to want ‘forever’. They don’t have to have the mindset that every girl is like a ‘bus’, there will always be one after every five minutes. Tell them they CAN love just one person for their entire lives. They can. They often do. Don’t think they all move on EASILY. They are not that different. Tell them they can LOVE again and again and again. 

6. Tell them it’s okay to not constantly try to undermine themselves to make you feel empowered. Make them feel that you understand how much they just want to be the support for you. Tell them they can RELY on you too. Tell them it’s OKAY to tell you when they have trouble figuring out how to get through life. Nobody is strong enough to not break even once. Nobody.

7. Tell them it’s okay to want to win arguments. Tell them it’s okay to feel stronger than you. They’re not supposed to deny their biological strength to make you feel stronger. You can be strong for each other. Instead of competing at who is stronger, figure out how to help each other in ways that you’re not.

8. Tell them it’s okay to not deny who they are, because every one of us is different. Every single one of them is DIFFERENT. They’re not all the same. Even if the majority of them might do the same thing, that doesn’t mean that they’re ALL like that. Some are fighting against the prejudices inflicted by their own gender. Some are fighting for you. Don’t label anybody just because you can.

9. Tell them how much they are capable of love and respect. Tell them they’re not their past, tell them it’s okay to not be what this ‘society’ screams at them to be like, it’s okay. You can be the umbrella that protects them. They too need to be protected.
11. Tell them it’s okay to be careless, tell them it’s sexy when they’re graceful about how they live. Tell them it’s okay to not constantly try to save everybody because they have been told that they have to, because they’re “stronger” than most. Tell them it’s okay to not want to take responsibility for things that aren’t their faults, that aren’t their mistakes, that aren’t their burden.
12. Tell them it’s okay to be themselves. We aren’t the only ones being strangled by patriarchy. We aren’t the only ones.