Jennifer L. W. Fink

Teenage Boys are Awesome. And Awful.

Teenage boys are awesome. I was reminded of that fact this morning when I ran across this video online. Take a watch; it is entirely worth 3 minutes of your time. Isn’t that great? It’s teen boys at their best. Their talent and ability to

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The Link Between Freedom & Video Games

How many have you have complained about the amount of time your boys play video games? I have, and so has nearly every other parent of boys I know. We complain about the number of hours our boys spend glued to screens, and yet…I’m beginning

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Savage Park

There is a park in Japan where kids can build fires, play with tools and create their own play structures of scraps of wood and imagination. Meanwhile, I fight for my child’s right to go outside when it’s wet or raining outside, to be allowed

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Let’s Start Listening to Boys

Two years ago, my boys started a petition, asking for outdoor recess. We live in Wisconsin, where outdoor recess is cancelled in the event of inclement weather, including low temps. And at the time my boys started that petition, outdoor recess had been canceled again, restricting

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Building a White House Council on Boys & Men

In 2009, President Obama signed an Executive Order and created the White House Council on Women & Girls, “to ensure that American women and girls are treated fairly in all matters of public policy.” It is now 2015, and there is no complementary White House

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The Boy Crisis

Recently, I had the chance to talk with Warren Farrell, PhD, chair of the Commission to Create a White House Council on Boys & Men and author of The Myth of Male Power, Why Men Are They Way They Are and Women Can’t Hear What Men

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On Parenting, Peas & Postponing Gratification

Oftentimes parents will say something [like], “Sweetie, you have to be ready in five minutes and be sure you bring such and such.” And then five minutes passes, and the parent says, “Sweetie. I told you, you have to ready in five minutes.” And then

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How to Deal with a Troublemaker

This is a xylophone…. … It’s also a powerful tool to increase student engagement. Let me explain. Last night was my son’s school Christmas concert. This son, age eight, does not particularly like school, or music class. And with reason. This son, like many boys,

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Best STEM Gifts for Boys (& Girls!)

Maybe your kid loves science or math. Or maybe you really want to ramp up his interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). What a great holiday gift, right? Let me tell you a little secret about boys. They love to learn—until you tell

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Building Boys

You can purchase the newest book from Building Boys at the following websites: