Raising Real Men

I think most men in my generation have fond memories from their childhood and youth. I still laugh at some really stupid comedy, I have some favorite movies that are just escapist adventures, and occasionally I re-read some of the books I loved as a child. Having little kids around gives you an excuse to…
Read More

A mom came up after our session on raising boys, “My son is so frustrated and angry. He can’t understand why we won’t let him get his driver’s license, but he’s so immature still!” “How old is he?” I asked “Eighteen.” My eyebrows went up, “What is he planning to do next year?” “Oh, he’ll…
Read More

Talk about bad headlines.  Following a study presented to the American Psychological Association, the media asked, “Being A Mama’s Boy: Good For Your Health?” The gist of the study by Dr. Carlos Santos of Arizona State University suggested that boys who “resist” male stereotypes and are close to their mothers grow up with better mental…
Read More

The King’s School is the oldest independent private academy in Australia.  The headmaster of the all-male, K-12 boarding school, Dr. Tim Hawkes, presented a paper at the International  Boys’ School Coalition conference in Toronto, Canada, a few years ago, starting his presentation with this observation: When the philosopher, Aristippus of Cyrene, was asked some 400…
Read More

One of my favorite Founders is George Washington. There’s a whole mythology that sprung up around him, sure, but the reality is just as fascinating and more edifying. Two excellent biographies I’ve enjoyed are Joseph P. Ellis’ His Excellency, George Washington and Richard Brookhiser’s Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington.  He really was a man of strong…
Read More

Podcast: Download

The earliest chapters of Scripture, God states “It is not good for man to be alone.”  There are many ways this works out in everyday life, but an interesting article in The Deseret News says that marriage even plays a key factor in recruiting — or suppressing — suicide bombers in the Islamic world.  The…
Read More

At the reception following Max’s bar mitzvah, the 13-year-old’s father raised the toast, “Today you become an adult … yeah, right.” Everyone laughed, including Max, but clinical psychologists Joseph and Claudia Allen found the contrast between the traditional ceremony and the modern reality very pointed. Their book, Escaping the Endless Adolescence: How We Can Help…
Read More

Several years ago, it occurred to us that maybe the teenaged years didn’t have to be full of anger, rebellion, and sullenness. Just because we went through it or saw it in our friends growing up, does that mean it has to be that way? Is that what you see in the Bible? Through history?…
Read More

Since the annual “Year in Review” and “Top Ten” articles are appearing in the media this week, I thought I’d take a quick look at ten stories that illustrate what it means to be a real man – or what can happen when you abandon that ideal.  These may not be the biggest and greatest…
Read More

This morning, I had the misfortune to read the repulsive story of a punk who fled his car to avoid the police and left his baby behind. After reading it, I was thinking about why we have such a visceral reaction to a story like this. I think it is because God intended for marriage…
Read More