Boys Should Be Boys: 7 Secrets to Raising Healthy Sons

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I have two rambunctious little boys at home. William just turned four and Henry is two and a half years old. With #MeToo, #YesAllMen, and the gross Gillette commercial that aired recently, many moms just like me are concerned for what kind of world our boys will grow up in. How can we raise young men that aren't participating in #toxicMasculinity, but that are in fact masculine? Having grown up in a single parent household with my mother, I had no clue, and I wanted a better understanding of what masculinity is supposed to be. I decided to start looking at books geared towards parenting boys. A friend of mine recommended Boys Should Be Boys: 7 Secrets to Raising Healthy Sons by Dr. Meg Meeker and I went right out and bought it.Let me say, if you are one of those people who has #Feminist in your twitter bio, you are probably going to HATE this book. Dr. Meeker takes a no-nonsense approach to boyhood. She talks practically and with true pragmatism about the challenges that boys face in our modern society.Dr. Meeker address things like:pornographyboundaries and ruleselectronicsteenagerssexhow to address difficult situationsthe influence of mothersthe importance of fathersThe real kicker for me came on page 224, where Meeker writes:“There are only a handful of adults in your son's life who will teach him the great lessons in life. As his parent, seize the day. HE won't learn these virtues from three hours of television, two hours of computer time, or even six hours in school. He needs to learn them from you, and to see how you put them into practice. There's no time like the present to help your son become the man you want him to be. He is waiting.”As I said before, Meeker doesn't pull any punches. She is a huge advocate for masculinity and boyhood and calls out lazy parenting and schooling for creating this fear of masculinity that we see so predominantly in society today. Overall, I give Boys Should Be Boys: 7 Secrets to Raising Healthy Sons by Dr. Meg Meeker a SOLID A+ and I recommend it for anyone who has a son, knows a little boys, teaches school, works at a church, or might one day want to have a positive impact in a young man's life.

Ideas of gender neutrality have hurt our understanding of males at every stage of their development. There is good information in here that will go against current social trends, but it is exactly what needs to be understood.

What a great book! I have t even finished the 1 st chapter and I’ve already learned so much and made a list of things that I can see that basically are not working. After reading it makes so much more sense time why these are not producing the outcome I expected...because I am raising boys! They need to be allowed to be boys. My husband and I have already begun to trade screen time for green time for our boys and they have no complaints! Meg Meeker, thank you for following the Lord and using your profession to help millions of kids and parents! You have always been a blessing in our home and we thoroughly enjoy you podcast.

This is a great book about being a father to boys.Some reviewers say this is fundamentalist-religious, anti-feminist, anti-single-mother, or whatever. Ignore them. This book is simply very good, common sense advice and you should buy it and inculcate its lessons.As a man who grew up without his father and a bad step-father, I know in my gut some things were very wrong with the way I was raised. Is this a slam against my mother? No. It's simply the realization that she couldn't do it all and that I needed a better man in my life than I had. Now that I am father to a son, who do I look to for advice? Where do I turn? How can I avoid making the mistakes made with me? How can I help my son to grow up emotionally fitter than I was (or am)? How can I help him to be successful without being overbearing? How can I stop the generations-long family tragedies and try to have a good family? This book helps.Dr. Meeker gives voice to what I recognize went wrong with me, my dad, and his dad. And by articulating it, by giving a name to the problems, I can meet those problems head on, avoid them or overcome them. I'm very thankful that she wrote the book and I am glad I bought it. It was a painful read at times because it dredged up bad memories that really made it clear just how poorly I was raised, but at the same time it fills me with hope that I can raise a happy and healthy son.By the way, I bought the Kindle edition and with that I was offered a discount to buy the audio edition for only $3.99. I took a chance and bought it. I'm so glad I did, and it's a testament to how great Amazon is. I reckon that I will buy hard copies of this book and give them to friends and family.

Made me reconsider how I will be raising my two year old. It was tough in some places, but I really learned and can refocus my attention now. It also made me appreciate how my dad raised me and where I can do better. It was a great book on how to raise confident sons into men.