Meg Meeker - Boys Should Be Boys: 7 Secrets to Raising Healthy Sons

Boys Should Be Boys: 7 Secrets to Raising Healthy Sons — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Boys Should Be Boys: 7 Secrets to Raising Healthy Sons" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...59

Table of Contents

Dr. Margaret J. Meeker has written an excellent description of what young boys experience growing up in our overtly secular culture. To both parents and especially to fathers, she gives sound advice as to how they can meet the specific emotional needs of their young sons.

Armand M. Nicholi, Jr., M.D., professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

Boys Should Be Boys is another great installment from Dr. Meeker. Its a must-have for parents and anyone else concerned about the impact of todays culture on young people and families. In her no-nonsense, direct style, Meg cuts through the clutter and the conflicting messages coming at us from Hollywood, the mass media, the education establishment, and society in general, and provides clear advice on how to help boys grow up to be healthy, happy, and productive men.

Teresa Tomeo, author, motivational speaker, and nationally syndicated radio show host

This book should be read by every woman who wishes to love the boys in her care, and by every man who desires a greater understanding of the boy he once was, and the son to whom he is a father. A real page-turner filled with stories, facts, and inspiration that will bring a smile to your face, and a renewed confidence that God knew what he was doing when he created us male and female (boys and girls are not the same). I highly recommend it.

Chris Godfrey, former professional football player, president and founder of Life Athletes, and inspirational family speaker

To T

I am so very proud
of the man you are becoming

INTRODUCTION

The Seven Secrets to Raising Healthy Boys

I THINK OF THIS BOOK AS sort of The Dangerous Book for Parents . The bestselling Dangerous Book for Boys was full of fun information and projects that boys love but that too many of us have tried to deny them. Tree houses? Too dangerous. The boys might fall and break their arms. Insects and spiders? Yuck. And you want to teach them about hunting, how to make a bow and arrow, and great battles of history? Are you crazy?

Actually, these are all things boys like, and there is no harm in them. As a pediatrician, Ive seen plenty of boys with broken arms, spider bites, or who have scraped a knee playing soldier in the woods. But these are just part of growing up. Too many of us parents obsess about healthy diversions that active boys like to do, while not recognizing what is truly dangerous for our boyslike popular music, television, and video games that deaden their sensibilities, shut them off from real human interaction, impede the process of maturation, prevent them from burning up energy in useful outdoor exercise, divorce them from parents, and lower their expectations of life.

In this book I mean to cut through a lot of the misapprehensions, misinformation, and misleading assumptions that too many parents have. Its a book of practical advice based on my clinical experience, relevant scientific data, and the sort of common sense that too many of us managed to misplace from reading too many politically correct parenting books. My concern is not with what is politically correct, but with what is true and what is best for our boys. Ive seen, and Ive learned, that when it comes to raising sons, what is politically correct and what is true are often at opposite ends of the spectrum. I think its time we put our sons first.

In this book you will learn how to raise healthy and happy boysboys who are honest, courageous, humble, meek (in the sense of willingly withholding their power), and kind. There are secrets to raising such boys. Among these secrets are the big seven. I can mention them in passing here, but well look at what they mean and how to use them in the chapters that follow.

Know how to encourage your son. One fault is babying and spoiling him. But another is being so harsh that you lose communication with your son and destroy his sense of self-worth. Well look at how to strike the right balance.

Understand what your boys need. Guess what? Its not another computer game; its you. Well look at how to get the most of your time with your son.

Recognize that boys were made for the outdoors. Boys love being outside. A healthy boy needs that sense of adventureand the reality check that the outdoors gives him.

Remember that boys need rules. Boys instinctively have a boy code. If you dont set rules, however, they feel lost.

Acknowledge that virtue is not just for girls. Boys should, indeed, be boysbut boys who drink, take drugs, and have sex outside of marriage arent normal teenagers, they have been abnormally socialized by our unfortunately toxic culture. Today, my practice as a pediatrician has to deal with an epidemic of serious, even life-threatening, problemsphysical and psychologicalthat were of comparatively minor concern only forty years ago. A healthy boy strives after virtues like integrity and self-control. In fact, it is virtues like these that make a boys transition to manhood possible. They are necessary virtues, and he needs your help to acquire them. Ill show you how.

Learn how to teach your son about the big questions in life. Many parents shy away from this, either because they are uncomfortable with these questions themselves, or want to dismiss them as unimportant or even pernicious, or because they dont want to impose their views on their children. But whatever ones personal view, your son wants to knowand needs to knowwhy hes here, what his purpose in life is, why he is important. Boys who dont have a well-grounded understanding on these big questions are the most vulnerable to being led astray into self-destructive behaviors.

Remember, always, that the most important person in your sons life is you.

Being a parent can often seem a daunting task. But Im here to tell you that almost every parent has what it takes to raise healthy sons. You have the intuition, the heart, and, yes, the responsibility to change the life of your son for the better. This book is a step toward showing you how.

CHAPTER ONE

Boyhood under Siege

WE ALL KNOW WHAT BOYHOOD SHOULD BE. We carry the iconic images of Huck Finn, of boys trading baseball cards and carrying slingshots in their back pockets, of tree houses and no girls allowed. If were parents of sons we know what its like to see a boy with the instincts to be a leader, a protector, a provider; to be a hero and thwart the villains. Toddler boys dont need any prompting to pick up twigs and use them as swords.

As a mother and pediatrician, Ive seen iconic boyhood come to life both at home and in my clinical practice. But for too long, weve tried to kid ourselves in the name of equality that boys and girls are the same, or that we need to push girls to be more aggressive, competitive, and focused on math and science. We think we need to temper boisterous boys to be more submissive, cooperative, and quiet. Of course, as a woman and a doctor, I encourage girls to improve their science scores, but what is wrong, and what can be seen in too many social indicators, is social engineering that tries to change our children into something they were never meant to be. My previous book, Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters , discusses the challenges facing our daughters. But if anything, the challenges facing todays boys are even greater, because weve been shortchanging the needs and attributes of boys.

Next page

1234567...59

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Boys Should Be Boys: 7 Secrets to Raising Healthy Sons»

Look at similar books to Boys Should Be Boys: 7 Secrets to Raising Healthy Sons. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Mary Anne Richey

Raising Boys With ADHD: Secrets for Parenting Successful, Happy Sons

Alex Beckerman

Why Boys Need Parents

Ian Grant

Growing Great Boys: How To Bring Out The Best In Your Son

Elizabeth Hartley-Brewer

Raising Confident Boys: 100 Tips For Parents And Teachers

Will Glennon

Nurturing Boys: 200 Ways to Raise a Boys Emotional Intelligence from Boyhood to Manhood

Anthony Rao

The Way of Boys: Raising Healthy Boys in a Challenging and Complex World

Pollack

Real boys: rescuing our sons from the myths of boyhood

Steve Biddulph

Raising Boys, Third Edition: Why Boys Are Different--and How to Help Them Become Happy and Well-Balanced Men

Steve Biddulph

Raising Boys: Why Boys are Different - and How to Help Them Become Happy and Well-Balanced Men

Steve Biddulph

Raising Boys

Forgan James W.

Raising boys with ADHD : secrets to parenting healthy, happy sons

William S. Pollack

Real Boys : Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood

Discussion, reviews of the book Boys Should Be Boys: 7 Secrets to Raising Healthy Sons and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.