Boyhood
Young men have a tremendous desire to try their strength and to be tested in return. This is integral to their competitive nature, but let's take a look at how it impacts their interaction with the real world, not the contrived world of competitions. Adults sometimes equate a desire for adventure with immaturity and recklessness.…
As parents, we have a love/hate relationship with all the devices in our home. We depend on our laptops. We run our business from them and our teen/twenties sons run their businesses from theirs, too. We use them to communicate with each other - especially the grown up kids in other states. If we need to…
What can we as parents do to help OUR faith become OUR BOYS' faith? As my son goes into the age if double digits, (10 yrs old soon) I worry about him losing his faith. How do I help him look to God more and not less? These moms are right to be concerned. We read…
Hal often says that boys seem especially tempted by anger, lust, and laziness. And if you think about it, it makes sense--those sins are connected to some of the most important roles men have as protectors, husbands, and providers. So, how can you overcome their natural laziness? How can you help your son become diligent? Sometimes…
I was floating in the lake in my "mama suit" with my hair going every which way when one of my sons looked over at me and said, "Mom, you're beautiful!" A few months ago, I might have answered, "Oh, please! I look awful!" but I've learned better since then. A few months ago I read…
A reader with four boys 8 and under called for help: I feel like when I talk, no one hears me. So then I yell. My friends call me "The Drill Sergeant Mom". I am so frustrated. Wow, do we ever sympathize! One time, we had a friend -- a mother of several girls --…
We were setting up for a book fair last weekend and needed the lid to a plastic bin which is part of our display set up. I sent one of the boys to fetch it from the trailer. “It’s on the top shelf,” I said. Understand: Our trailer only has three shelves, there was only…
We finally noticed a pattern. When one of our children got somewhere between nine and fourteen, they'd climb on an emotional rollercoaster and invite us all to join them. Wow, what a tough age to parent! The first time we went through it, we questioned everything, "Is it us? Have we failed in parenting? Is…
Folks, let me tell you this: It is a lot better to have pink underwear than no clean underwear at all. Get your guys doing chores! Here are some things that have helped us (and no, we don't do this perfectly - not remotely so!) Use manly marketing. If you say, "Sweetheart, could you make…
God made us in His image and one part of that is the desire to create, to build, to bring order. Most boys love building sets. After raising six sons and having literal decades of birthdays and Christmases, there are more Legos in our house than at Wal-Mart! Lots more. All over the place. Ouch!…