Dealing With Difference: Helping A Child Who Stands Out
Throughout life, people tell you to embrace your unique qualities. To celebrate the way you look and what you feel about different topics. These are lessons which most parents want to give to their children. But some differences are hard for a child to celebrate, and for some kids, standing out is their worst nightmare. […]
How to Help Your Child Deal With Bullying
If your child isn’t enjoying school, it may because he’s being bullied. When you find out a child is being bullied, you wish you could take their place. However, all you can do is give your child the tools they need to stop it from happening. As much as parents would love to wrap their children […]
We Need a New Approach to Bullying
Our anti-bullying programs aren’t working. Kids continue to be bullied in school and elsewhere, and ignoring it or walking away often makes it worse. The boys I see in my practice who are bullied tell me, “I just deal with it. There’s nothing anyone can do…” It all happens so quickly. Teachers aren’t seeing it, […]
Most-Read Posts of 2016
What a year it’s been! In 2016, we covered everything from boys & school (a constant, recurring topic) to how to talk to boys about “locker room banter“ (a topic most of us never imagined would come up in the course of a Presidential election). We’ve shared stories, information and encouragement, built our community (have […]
Being a Non-Sporty Boy in a Sports-Driven Culture
On a spectacular spring day several years ago, my nine-year-old son, Jake, and I stepped into an elevator following a routine dentist’s appointment, headed for home. Jake, by the way, is one of those boys who doesn’t like sports, isn’t any good at them, and avoids them at every turn. Moments later, we were joined […]
Rap Music Is Not Evil
I can’t believe it took me the better part of a week to sit down and watch this incredibly inspiring and moving video! If you haven’t yet seen the footage of these two boys performing on Britain’s Got Talent, sit down now and watch it. I promise it will be completely worth your time. Pretty […]
Bullying, Hypermasculinity & Warrior Culture
Shame is at the heart of the issue. As men, we create so much misery and oppression because we fail to deal with our own grief, anger, and confusion. In a culture where fatherlessness is rampant, I meet so many adolescent males who are constantly bombarded by pathological messages about what it means to be […]
Boys, Bullying & Guns
The 16-year-old California boy shot a classmate who allegedly bullied him. The main story line — boy brings gun to school and shoots — is, sadly, not a new one. We have seen and heard this story before, far too many times. And whatever your stance is on guns, parenting, boys, education or bullying, I […]
Boys & Bullying, Take 2
I was bullied as a child and no one ever told me that I had a RIGHT to my well-being and I learned to “take it.” As a result, I allowed people to push me around and I became a frightened, timid, individual until I reached my mid-30s… What kind of mixed messages are we, […]
Boys & Bullying, Take 2
I was bullied as a child and no one ever told me that I had a RIGHT to my well-being and I learned to “take it.” As a result, I allowed people to push me around and I became a frightened, timid, individual until I reached my mid-30s… What kind of mixed messages are we, […]