The recent car bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City should make it more imperative than ever to understand where this type of male mindset originates. People must recognize the role that crying, and our responses to crying, play in our emotional development. Only then will they acquire the insight to develop a rational, workable program to anticipate and resolve these hostile tendencies in young males.
If society is willing to provide 12 years of free intellectual education to every child, it should also see the necessity of providing perhaps two years of free emotional learning to every child during the kindergarten years. This would involve loving, hugging responses to crying by loving, caring teachers of both sexes.At-risk children not inclined to cry spontaneously should be verbally encouraged to cry or placed in non-threatening situations designed to provoke crying. Once they begin, they should be encouraged to continue crying and be hugged until they stop. This process will create emotional bonds between the child and its teachers that may offset emotional deprivation at home. Loving responses to crying will resolve anger and are the principal ingredients for a happy, loving disposition.
W.H. Snyder
Salt Lake City