A close friend of mine called me because his son is in trouble at school. I'm a teen therapist by profession. I work with public schools doing mental health work as well as my own private practice. My local area has seen an alarming spike in teen suicide with almost 78% of the completions being teen boys. It has become an epidemic. One high school had 7 completed suicides in one year and I am currently working to secure a position at that school. I have a front-row seat with the crisis that is happening with our teen boys and it is extremely troubling to me how our boys are failing so badly but I'll get to that.

My friend called me seeking some advice on guidance on how to handle a situation. His son along with some friends said in a group text "send nudes" which, as my friend said, is a common joke among these friends, this is just how they like to joke with each other. But apparently they also had a few girls in the group text when they did this recently and a mom of one of these girls saw it and now these kids are in hot water. There are a couple of adult women who are hanging these boys out to dry. They want them kicked out of school and are threatening criminal prosecution against these three boys. But here's the kicker, these boys are in the 6th grade. They aren't even out of elementary school yet. These kids are young, they need to be taught and mentored but the outrage mob is going after these 6th graders to make an example out of them. If you ask me, this is unacceptable to go after kids this young and turn them into the newest crucibles.

I believe that one reason why teen suicide is so high, especially among boys is the complete intolerance of any perceived mistakes on their part and too many people in society are prepared to destroy the lives of young kids because they think they are some kind of heroic crusaders. It's frustrating for me to try and fight teen suicide when there are clear demonstrations of these obvious causes. When full grown adults believe they are doing something good by treating teen boys like they are a scourge, it's no wonder they are offing themselves in such high numbers.

My friend is standing up to these bullies and he's standing his ground but it's an uphill battle because the school district is caving into the outrage mob so his son has to absorb his time in the proverbial stockade.

I'm posting this up here for a couple of reasons. One is that I am hoping that eventually, males will get upset enough about this kind of stuff and they will start standing up, mobilizing and banding together. In truth, males band together far better than females. How young do the boys have to get before males start banding together and mobilizing better? How far does it have to do before, how young do the boys have to get before males mobilize and take action? We need to have these conversations.

I'm also asking adult males to be better. Frankly, I'm getting damn tired of fighting to save the lives of these boys when their dads are standing around, flat-footed. They are just a big of a part of the problem as anybody. They are just as punitive and harsh on boys as anybody, not to mention that they are completely passive. We cannot punish our way to better boys. Boys need to be taught, mentored and understood. Men need to step up and be better. They need to step up and challenge other men to be better and they need to step up and be better fathers.

I know a lot of guys in these arenas care about these issues and I firmly believe that we have to be the change that we want to see in the world so please consider what I've said here.