Why parents are calling out this ‘boy mom' post about her son's future girlfriend
Which is why a viral post on Threads last week stopped me in my scroll.
A self-described 'boy mom' wrote:
'I'm a boy mom and one day, some teenage girl is gonna break his heart… and I'm gonna have to square up with a 16-year-old.'
The post has over 1,700 comments (and a mere 500 some likes) which is never a good sign when it comes to internet ratios. And the replies were…heated.
Related: What's it like being a 'boy mom'? All the things I wish I had known
The double standard at the heart of 'boy mom' culture
Many parents called out the comment for perpetuating a double standard: moms fiercely protecting their sons while positioning girls (or any future partner) as villains.
'You must have missed the memo. It's 2025 and we're raising our sons to be good men, and if they get their hearts broken, we teach them how to process their emotions,' one Threads user wrote. 'The only people we're 'squaring up' with are predators—definitely not young girls trying to figure out their world, too. Signed, A Mom of 4 Boys.'
Another mom added: 'If that girl happens to be my 16-year-old daughter, you'll be squaring off with me pretty bloody quickly. Teach your son to take no for an answer instead.'
Others were blunter: 'Reaaaallly manifesting for my girls to never date anyone who has a 'boy mom' parent
'
And some were just puzzled: 'Why are you already beefing with an imaginary teenage girl? Lol'
Related: Here's what many people don't know about being a boy mom
Not everyone thought it was that deep
To be fair, a few people defended the original post, arguing it was clearly meant as a joke.
'I feel like y'all in the comments took this to the head,' one user wrote. 'Obviously she's not really gonna square up with a 16-year-old… At the end of the day, relationships are a two-way street.'
The poster herself replied: 'Thank you. It's a joke—people are so weird.'
Related: How becoming a boy mom transformed the way I see men
Why this conversation matters for parents raising boys
Sure, it might have been a joke. But jokes reveal what's underneath. And underneath 'I'll fight your future girlfriend' is a vision of our sons as fragile, emotionally dependent on mom, and entitled to someone else's feelings.
That's not the world I want my son growing up in.
Because the truth is, heartbreak is part of life. It's not something I can, or should, shield him from. My job is to help him process it: to know that rejection doesn't make him less worthy, to respect someone else's boundaries, and to see breakups not as battles to win, but as moments to grow.
And in a time when online spaces are full of misogyny, red-pill rhetoric, and distorted ideas about masculinity, how we raise our boys matters more than ever.
If you ask me, the only thing I want to 'square up' against is a culture that tells boys they can't handle emotional pain without blaming someone else.
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