Boy Mom Shares Everything She’s Teaching Her Toddler To Make Him ‘The Kind Of Man A Woman Prays For’
He's learned about everything from doing the laundry to periods.
pixelheadphoto digitalskillet | Shutterstock Parents have a responsibility to teach their children how to become good, responsible humans who can function as adults one day. Some take that responsibility more seriously than others, though. One mom seems to be taking raising her son to be a good man very seriously, as she has shown on TikTok.
A mom is raising her toddler son to be ‘the kind of man a woman prays for.’
A content creator named Mariah D. Hairl is showing off how she’s teaching her young son to grow up to be a good man. She said she’s doing this to make him “the kind of man a woman prays for” and is teaching him “so your daughter doesn’t have to.”
In a video series that now has 10 parts, Hairl filmed herself teaching her son how to do different things that she thinks are important for him to know. It all started with Hairl going over the rules of the bathroom with her son, including when to put the toilet seat up and when to be sure to leave it down. Hairl taught her son that he would want to follow this pattern “because you live with ladies.”
In another video, Hairl instructed her son to never remove the cap from a tube of toothpaste and leave it on the counter without returning it to its rightful place. She taught him the affirmation, “I’m clean. I’m respectful. I have good habits.”
The mom is teaching her son to be a conscientious partner.
“It’s time we start teaching men that their value is in more than just their paycheck,” she said in the caption of the video. Other videos featured lessons on things like always replacing an empty roll of toilet paper, putting dirty dishes and clothes in the sink and hamper, and throwing empty boxes away.
“You want to be a responsible gentleman, correct?” she questioned in one video, to which he excitedly replied, “Yeah!” Hairl also went over deeper topics like how everyone in a household should be responsible for tasks such as laundry, not just a woman, because everyone wears clothes that get dirty, and taught her son what a period is. “Periods aren’t just a woman’s problem,” she said. “It means everything when men not only care, but are knowledgeable.”
Referring to the laundry lesson, she said, “Domestic labor isn’t reserved for women only, and it doesn’t have to be 50/50 either. But everyone in the house (especially adults) should be willing and capable of cleaning up after themselves.”
Commenters were thrilled with the mom's lessons.
Other TikTok users were so happy to see Hairl teaching her son such important, useful lessons, especially when they involved showing him that it’s not just a woman’s job to take care of a house. “Literally JUST talked about this in my women in politics class,” one person said. “Gender roles start by external factors in childhood and we just talked about household chores. Wish more parents were like you!!”
“His future partner is gonna be so lucky to have him,” another added. “You’re doing an entire future generation a huge favor, trust me,” said a third.
The question is, is it right to frame these behaviors as what makes a good partner?
Hairl is doing a great job teaching her young son some very important concepts that many don’t learn until they’re much older. But, it does beg the question, is this the necessary curriculum to become a solid partner? After all, aren’t these just essential things to know whether you’re in a relationship or not?
There is also much more to a partnership than doing your own laundry and putting the toilet seat down. Johns Hopkins University listed a few important relationship-related values as communication, boundaries, and honesty. Of course, Hairl’s son is likely too young to understand those concepts at this point. There’s no reason to think that what she’s doing isn’t a great start.
But maybe, just maybe, instead of framing it as teaching him to be a good partner, it should be simply framed as teaching him to be a well-rounded and good person.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
