Since I have two boys of my own, Boys Adrift by by Dr. Leonard Sax looked like a worthy read. It was. If you are raising boys, I would high recommend reading this book. As my boys are still small, I am determined to help them stay motivated in whatever way I can.
The book addresses five factors affecting boys today including: changes in schools, video games (issues with virtual vs. real), ADHD diagnoses/medications, endocrine disruptors (found in our modern environments), and the loss of male role models.
Dr. Sax offers some good suggestions on how to combat these factors to help your son reach his full potential and not fail to launch (he acknowledges that girls have their own set of factors, but his book speaks specifically to boys).
I thought this was a good read – while there are plenty of notes at the end of the book with more information, the book itself didn't feel bogged down by research. It also offered good tips that wouldn't be too hard to implement. I hope we are mindful of these factors as we raise our boys.
A few highlights from this book:
The explicit motivation behind the founding of the Boy Scouts was to "make men of little boys and to foster independent manhood." There was no assumption that an independent manhood would just happen naturally.
"What does it mean to be a man?" The answer is: being a man means using your strength in service to others.
Boys who prefer the video game version over the real thing are making a choice very similar to boys who prefer online pornography to interacting with real girls.
To become a man, a boy must see a man. But that man doesn't have to be a father. In fact, ideally it shouldn't be only his father. Even if your son has a strong father or father figure in his life, he also needs a community of men who together can provide him with varied models of what productive adult men do.
Ambition. Drive. Determination. Call it what you will, it is this characteristic more than any other that now distinguishes the emerging nations from the United States.
I gave this book 5/5 stars on Goodreads.
I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads.
I made a deal with Jack that we would watch The Guardians movie after we completed the fourth book in The Guardians series, The Sandman and the War of Dreams,
by William Joyce. It turns out that I was wrong on two counts. I thought Jack Frost was going to be introduced in this book (he's not) AND I thought book four was the end (it's not). It turns out the 5th book in the series will be released a year from now, and that one will be about Jack Frost.
Anyways, I continue to love this series. I'm not always sure that Jack is actually paying attention to the read alouds, but I recently quizzed him on all of the characters we have met along the way, and he knew all of them and the basic story line. So that's good. We will go ahead and watch the movie since I told Jack we would, but I am looking forward to reading the 5th book next year.
I gave this book 5/5 stars on Goodreads.
Honorable Mention:
We make it to the library at least once a month and both boys choose books to read. This month Jack chose: Curious George, Oh, the places you'll go!, Good King Wenceslas, Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures: The Intrepid Canadian Expedition (see below), Max's Dragon Shirt, and Dragons Love Tacos (his favorite from this selection of picture books).
We are continuing to make our way through the Flat Stanley series by creator Jeff Brown with Jack. This month he chose Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures: The Intrepid Canadian Expedition (Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures #4). Unfortunately our local library doesn't have every book in the series and Jack is a bit bummed that we can't read them in the EXACT order.
Isaac's Library picks this month were truck song and Fire Engine No. 9. We read these books over and over to him, and then we read them some more!
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