IMO sometimes just being the guy who teaches them cool stuff is all the appropriate attention they need. I didn’t get hugs and pats on the back from every adult male in my life - those came primarily from my dad. There were other guys I looked up to who, just by their example, helped form in me the right ideas about being a man. One was my dad’s hunting buddy, who is a Marine. The guy did everything cool that a 12-yr-old boy could imagine - martial arts, played the drums, rode a motorcycle, collected guns. Looking back he was, without even knowing, a really positive influence on me.