A Letter of Apology to Our Teen Sons

Dear Teen Sons,

As parents, we owe you our deepest apologies. For decades–no, centuries–we have been focusing on teaching our daughters about relationships and we have forgotten about you, our dear sons. Well, with the assistance of Dr. Barbara Greenberg, the teen doctor, we beg for your forgiveness as we attempt to make up for lost time and opportunities.

We want you to know:

1. We are deeply aware that you have tender and sensitive feelings that get hurt in relationships. We are aware that you are not simply hormonally-driven robots. And, sometimes we don’t give you the opportunity to express your sensitive feelings. With the help of Dr. G. we plan to change that.

2. We have for many years made the erroneous assumption that you are unusually comfortable with your sexuality and sexual relationships. Dr. G. has informed us that you are not always ready for the sexuality that you become involved in and that you sometimes feel pressured by peers to be sexual when you rather just be playing sports or being a friend. We will start to change our assumptions. We promise.

AND

3. We were also informed by Dr. G. that in many cases males fall in love sooner and harder than females. She has also informed us that males may have a harder time falling out of love. We never knew this, but we do now.

It is our collective vow to honor, understand and encourage you to express your feelings. We are sorry for past failures and we love you.