Parenting > Specifically for Boys

Sam de Brito is young, angry and on the case when it comes finding out what is going on with the lives of teenage boys and young men. He wants to know why, in this age of prosperity, so many are falling through the net; why they are failing in relationships , becoming addicted to legal and illegal substances & acting violently.

One of the biggest lessons we have learnt in the last few decades is that it is valuable, important and effective to praise children. Children respond much better to encouragement than they do to punishment, which is why praising them is considered fundamental in helping them develop self-esteem and strong self-belief. However, the wrong kind of praise can do more harm than good, creating children who lose all sense of rational judgement and are too readily wrong-footed when they meet difficulty. In this practical, common-sense g... read more

When parents feel separated from their sons by a curtain of silence or a wall of resistance, they're right to be concerned. Boys of few words - the ones who limit their expression to a timid shrug or an indifferent grunt - need our help. Whether the problem is rooted in "nature" or "nurture", boys who grow up unable to talk about their thoughts and feelings find it hard to connect with others at school, home, and eventually in business and personal relationships. Psychologist Adam Cox helps parents understand all the factors that m... read more

As the number of single-mum and two-mum households has grown, so have concerns about the possible damage caused by the lack of a stable male role model in the house. Determined to find the truth, research psychologist Peggy Drexler embarked on a long-term study comparing boys raised in non-traditional families with those whose fathers were present throughout their childhood. The results were startling. Female headed households can provide even better parenting for boys than households with men. Sons from female-headed families can ... read more

The Good Man Project, a major study in 24 boys' schools around New Zealand, aimed to discover how best to help boys become men.
Celia Lashlie's involvement with the research, and her work in prisons and parenting, enable her to offer more of the razor-sharp insights and no-nonsense suggestions we have come to expect from this expert commentator and motivator.
First published October 2005.

GROWING BOYS: HOW TO RAISE YOUR SON is a brilliant practical parenting book about parenting boys. It's packed with lots of tips and pragmatic ideas for parents and has a strong and positive message for parents.

Raising Boys has created shifts in how parents understand the development and needs of boys from birth to the teenage years. Completely new and revised with 50 extra pages and new photographs. First published 1997; this 3rd edition September 2008.

Why are boys so noisy? Why do they run around all the time and break things? Why can't they focus on important things like eating vegetables and tidying up? Why do they leave everything to the last minute? Why are they so messy, and why doesn't it bother them? Why are they fascinated with things that can burn, blind and cripple them? Why don't they care about clothes or if their hair looks nice? Why do they lose the gift of speech at adolescence and how do I keep communicating with them? Why do they get so smelly? Why can't they ju... read more

What kind of world are our boys growing up in? Childhood and teenage life is changing rapidly leaving parents wondering how best to tackle the many issues boys face. These include things such as increasing pressure on young boys to buy into consumerist culture, their exposure to violent video games, early sexualisation and exposure to pornography, the particular risks they face as young drivers, drugs and alcohol, mental health issues, safety on the internet, and bullying. This meticulously researched book takes a look at the big i... read more

Something scary is happening to boys today. From kindergarten to college, American boys are, on average, less resilient and less ambitious than they were a mere twenty years ago. The gender gap in college attendance and graduation rates has widened dramatically.
While Emily is working hard at school and getting As, her brother Justin is goofing off. Hes more concerned about getting to the next level in his videogame than about finishing his homework.
Now, Dr. Leonard Sax delves into the scientific literature ... read more

In this climax to his series of landmark boys books, including Wonder of Boys and Minds of Boys, Michael Gurian presents parentswith a new way of looking at their sons by• Realizing how important PURPOSE is for the success and happiness of their boys.• Understanding how a boy's core personality, nature, and genetic predisposition functions to create both strengths and weaknessesin their developmental journey towards maturity.• Learning how to help their sons build motivation, character, selflessness, meaningful intim... read more

Struggling to cope with an emotionally charged minefield as your son becomes a man? Do you sometimes wonder if you'll both come out alive? In Sons to Men, Anne Harvey offers a practical guide for mothers as their sons enter adolescence. While many other books concentrate on teenage boys' propensity to misjudge situations and inability to consider implications, Anne focuses on mothers and how they are impacted by their sons' actions and developments. Using real-life examples, she demonstrates how these situations can affect any boy ... read more