Before our upcoming session on “Boys to Men,” we invite you to read this short story of identity and belonging from a boy's point of view. It highlights how easily, and how quietly, kids, specifically boys, can feel like they’ve lost something important… even when everything looks positive on the outside. 

Read on, and notice what resonates with you.

Jonah’s Garage

Every Saturday morning, the garage was Jonah’s favorite place in the world. It smelled like oil and sawdust, the radio always played sports talk, and it felt like a space carved out just for him and his dad. Fixing bikes, building shelves, sorting tools—that was their thing. The Garage Club. Just the guys. Just them.

One weekend, Jonah’s little sister Ella walked in holding a crooked birdhouse.
“Dad, can you help me fix this?”

Jonah expected his dad to send her back inside—because that’s how it had always been. But instead, his dad said warmly, “Of course. Come sit with us.”

Jonah felt the shift instantly.

Ella’s bright colors, her nonstop questions, her giggles when the drill buzzed—all of it filled the space in a new way. The quiet focus he once shared with his dad disappeared. The garage felt louder, lighter, and less like his place.

He didn’t dislike Ella being there. He just suddenly felt like he’d lost something:
the sense of being part of a small world that belonged to him and his father alone.

After Ella ran inside proudly with her fixed birdhouse, Jonah stayed back.

His dad noticed. “Talk to me. What’s going on?”

Jonah kicked a screw on the floor. “It’s just… when it was just us, the garage felt like ours. And now it doesn’t. I kind of miss that.”

His dad nodded slowly.

“I get it. Sharing something special can make it feel different. And it’s okay to miss how it used to feel.”

Jonah felt seen. Not corrected. Not judged.

Over the next few weekends, Ella joined them more often. Jonah still missed the old Garage Club sometimes, but he also realised something:

He wasn’t missing her being gone.
He was missing the meaning the space used to hold.

The garage didn’t stop being special.

It just stopped being his and Dad’s in the same way.
And learning to hold that feeling—with honesty and an open heart—became part of growing up.

Jonah’s experience is common but rarely talked about. 

Boys, like girls, attach deep identity and emotional security to certain moments with their caregivers, especially when those moments feel connected to traditions of “being a boy” or “being with Dad.”

When those spaces shift, kids don’t always know how to express the mix of pride, loss, and confusion that comes with it. 

But we can learn to recognize it. 

If this story sparked a thought, a memory, or even a question, then you’ll definitely want to join us for our upcoming presentation: 

“From Boys to Men”

Date: Tuesday, 9 December 2025

Time: 18:30

Location: St Catherine's British School Theatre

If Jonah’s story made you think, this presentation will help you understand why.

Click here to register your attendance. We hope to see you there!