Raising 21st Century Boys 2018 Edition

The parenting classic updated

Steve Biddulph thinks the saying, 'boys will be boys' is a weak copout and isn't afraid to say so. -Boys will be the men we make them.'

One of Australia's and the UK's most respected family therapists, Steve has revised and updated his seminal work Raising Boys to talk about how to raise sons in a world which offers gender equality, respect and a whole new kind of manhood, but is also still battered by toxic masculinity, pornography and emotional muteness.

Steve believes raising boys starts with an understanding of the three distinct stages of development for boys:
1. Zero to six – the learning to love years
2. Six to fourteen – the time when fathers count most, and
3. Fourteen to adult – when boys need caring mentors and adults in addition to their parents

New information in Raising 21st Century Boys includes:
• Cutting-edge science about brain and hormonal development including the latest findings on testosterone and how those precipitate the full-on fours and the emotional eights.
• How puberty can be turned into a wonderful time for making better men.
• Getting the school starting age right, finding a boy-friendly classroom, and what to do at home so your boys love stories, reading and books.
• How role modelling really works and how being a single mum or dad can work out just fine.
• A reminder that no two boys are alike, and we have to get to know our own unique little boy.

Key topics include:
• Boys and crying
• Boys and -bad' behaviour
• Reading and communication
• Countering the effects of porn
• Transgender/gay children and the development of sexuality development

Gender studies have developed significantly in the last fifty years. Steve says, -If you studied social science in the 1970s one of the simple ideas often taught was that sex is what you are born with, and gender what you are given. No serious scientist today thinks it's possible to separate those … they interact in infinitely complex ways. We have largely given up using the word gender to indicate what is purely cultural. When young people decide they are transgender, it's their actual bodies that they want to change, not their conditioning.'

Steve concludes, -Right now, the world badly needs good men. Your boy can be one of those who grows up so much better and helps to heal the world. Join the boy revolution. As the 21st century rolls on, it's badly needed. Enjoy your boy, love him well, and set him free to fly in his own special way.'

Steve Biddulph has worked with families for 40 years. He has changed the nature of boys' education, brought a generation of fathers into hands-on engagement with their kids, and given mothers the confidence to love their sons and not be afraid of them. He has worked with schools in 17 countries, and 130,000 parents have heard his unforgettable live talks.