Manweek…how about Father and Son Day?

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Only today did I stumble upon the trending topic on Twitter – #manweek…so I had to look further!

Manweek is an initiative from Reachout to get young guys to open up and reveal themselves?

Mark Pollard has written an excellent post on the subject – and challenges the implementation of ManWeek as fostering the very attitudes that get men in trouble in the first place “being man enough to speak out” Â Being man enough and tough enough is a stereotype that Pollard argues needs to be broken down! Â I tend to agree with Mark, but he does a much better job writing about that I ever would, so I want to write about some other views on the subject of Man Week.

What really prompted me to write this post was an experience I had yesterday in meeting three very impressive and inspiring entrepreneurs who want to do some work with us at Buzzle to help with their Personal Brand Campaigns, and a new project that would benefit greatly from some social media funk.

Amongst the great and exciting things we spoke about, Martin Rogers of Local Man in a Van discussed his initiative called ‘Father and Son Day’ Martin has been involved in this initiative for some years, and has seen some great things come out of it! Â Effectively, Father and Son Day is about Fathers and Sons spending one day together doing the things they love, and getting to know each other a little better!

This concept Â really appealed to me, as does ManWeek (in principle), as I believe Â the issues raised by such ventures are completely relevant to my generation…Generation X

For some time I have believed that men of Generation X face a pretty challenging few years ahead. Â It is Generation X that will need to take the responsibility of leadership from the Baby Boomers, and lead organisations, governments, families, the church, education etc into the next decade of the 21st Century!

Are we (Gen X) ready for this challenge? Sometimes I wonder.

Most of us were raised by Baby Boomers with values (generally) including;

Go to University and get a vacation
Find a job
Work till you retire at 65
Die

Furthermore, Baby Boomers (our parents in most cases) would have instilled in us the values of marriage, and the one partner for life! Which is great if you happen to find the right partner in the first place! Â (Like me). Â In addition, there are the complexities of WWII where our parents still view our Northern Neighbours as not able to be trusted and liked.

Generalisations I know, but I think you can see the problems this poses. Â For Gen X – the world today (and tommorrow) does not work this way anymore, and for those grappling to live up to the ideals set by the previous generation may be feeling some pressure;

Less and less people are going to University – preferring instead to travel of start their own business
Most people have had up to 7 jobs by the time they reach 40 y.o
People are not planning to retire at 65 – but instead planning ‘mini-retirements’ along the way, and
We are obsessed with the wellness revolution and finding ways to live longer!

On top of this – divorce is still relatively high, and homosexual marriage is close to being legal in most states in Australia!

I sense a disconnect…so how do we fix it?

Well, initiatives like ManWeek and Father and Son Day are a great start in my opinion! Â Gen X have adapted and live by a set of values far removed from our parents, and this has caused some strain…it’s time to sit down, make peace, and move ahead with making the world a better place (we don’t have long!)

For more excellent reading on Man Week, visit these posts;