raising boys {review}

Raising Boys by Steve Biddulph

We need a different and better equipped, kind of man for the 21st century. If we help kids understand and deal with their emotions, we can do discipline without having it be a big conflict.

Emotional openness, including being able to cry, is healthy for boys and men. Vulnerability is the key to good mental health because without it we can’t be close to others or grow and learn. Being able to use words is essential to make sense of our lives, think through choices and connect with each other. Talking and reading to boys really matters.  

Steve Biddulph shares and gives practical and honest advice us parents so we can recognise the different stages of boyhood and learn how to raise happy, confident and kind young men.

Boys need to be parented in a different way from girls with their own very special psychological and physical make-up. Home, society and education have failed boys badly - and these failures lead to unhappy men who cannot fully become happy, responsible, emotionally-confident adults.

While it is essential that boys spend more time learning about manhood from their fathers, Biddulph updates his classic to include helpful information for mothers and single mothers with baby boys.

His latest edition explores some important topics:

• How ADHD may be caused by stress in the first year of life

• Whether boys should start school later than girls

• How important it is to let boys cry, and how crying helps avoid violence, suicide, and risky behaviour

• Two completely new stages of boyhood we didn't know about: the FULL ON FOURS and the EMOTIONAL EIGHTS

• Help for single mothers raising sons

• How to choose a sport that does more good than harm

• What we can do about boys and binge drinking

• What science can tell us about teenage boys and driving - and how we can keep our sons safe

Raising Boys offers parents real-life situations, thought-provoking insights, humour and help. Highly recommend this book as a personal archive gift to guide us in our parenthood journey or can be a great gift to a friend.