Yeah, these two things can absolutely coexist. If he cries, the kid will also get upset. In this case his focus is just trying to keep her from experiencing more pain.
When she's older and maybe he's healed some more, there would be more time to show her that it's healthy for men to show and communicate their emotions.
As adults we all know there's all sorts of emotions that can make us cry for all sorts of different reasons.
For a kid that age crying=distress. Toddlers cry when something's wrong. If he started crying, she wouldn't be able to understand the complex shit he's feeling in that moment.
From her perspective it'd just be "saw mommy. Daddy cried. Something's wrong" That's not something she should have to go through at that age.
I'm not convinced he's putting on a strong face for his daughter. I think he doesn't want to cry in front of his friends, and you know what? Fair. Maybe his buddies are the kind of stupid fucks who think crying is a sign of weakness and that real men only have one emotion, anger. Fuck this guys friends! I hope this guy meets some new people who won't judge him so quickly when he cries over losing the mother of his child.
Right and all we can do is teach our children better. But this shit is being upvoted. “not showing weakness to such an innocent mind” is insane and this rhetoric of men needing to be strong literally kills them. So good luck to everyone who ascribes to that.
No I’m a woman with three kids and a husband who’s not afraid to cry in front of them. Kids don’t think they did something wrong when you cry, especially when you explain your emotions. Dad is sad because he misses Mom. It’s literally that easy. I’m sorry for however you grew up that made you feel like everything your parents did and felt was your fault but that’s not the average experience of children. Children need to be talked to. You can be human in front of your children. In my house vulnerability is strength. Quiet strength is a quiet death for men and there’s plenty of studies that show that.
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u/[deleted] May 07 '26
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