The Boy Crisis is Real
Is there a “boy crisis?’ Yes, despite the fact that men still remain in control of most companies and governments throughout the world. Continued male dominance of professions and power is obscuring the fact that boys and young men are struggling — and their struggles affect us all. That, in a nutshell, is the premise […]
Tips for Single Moms Raising Boys
Yes, single moms — including divorced, widowed and never-married moms– CAN raise healthy, well-adjusted boys. My boys and I are proof. Here are my top 5 tips for single moms raising boys: 1. Support/facilitate your boy’s relationship w his father. Even if he cheated on you. Even if he doesn’t consistently pay child support. Even if […]
Is Shared Parenting Best for Boys After Divorce?
I did not plan to get divorced. I did not plan to share legal and physical custody of my four children. In fact, in the early days of our divorce, I strongly believed that my then-husband should not evenly share parenting and decision making power with me. I was wrong. Fortunately, our home state, Wisconsin, has […]
Boys Need Dads, But…
The absence of fathers has long been blamed for boys’ problems in society. Boys who lack regular interaction with a caring, loving, living-in-the-same-house adult male, the thinking goes, will become troublemakers. Dads are hugely important. Research studies, anecdotal evidence and common sense consistently show that dads’ involvement is positively correlated to academic success, cognitive development and social […]
Kate & Jon Gosselin Missed This Memo
Rule #1 of raising healthy, emotionally well-adjusted kids: Keep the kids out of the parent crap. That rule is probably stated much more eloquently somewhere else. (In fact, I’m sure it is!) But whether I remember the exact wording or not, that’s the takeaway I took away from my Divorced Parents class a few years […]
Are Single Parents Bad for Boys?
Are my boys doomed to failure because their father and I divorced? Some, apparently, would say yes. A 2012 New York Times article declared, “Study of Men’s Falling Income Cites Single Parents” and essentially blames men’s economic woes on the fact that just “63 percent of children lived in a household with two parents in 2010.” The […]
The Best Way to Parent
What’s the best way to parent boys? A few years ago, a reader sent me this insightful comment (after reading Mommy Wars? What Mommy Wars?), which changed the way I think (& write) about parenting: I think one of the problems in this parenting world comes about when a parent states one of their philosophies but then […]
Doing the Best We Can
I’ve been thinking a lot about how other moms treat one another. Especially after a reader sent me an insightful comment after reading Mommy Wars? What Mommy Wars?: I think one of the problems in this parenting world comes about when a parent states one of their philosophies but then says “I’m not judging anyone else, […]
What About Less-Than-Ideal Male Role Models?
The current culture portrayed by the media denigrates both men and women into sex-starved animals. We are much more than that. This not only marginalizes women, but it also debases men. In addition to seeing portrayals of strong women, I believe it is important for boys to see men treating women with the respect and […]
Boys, Education and Single Parenthood
Talk about an article designed to attract my attention. An article published in The Guardian, a British newspaper, carries this provocative headline and subtitle: “Girls ‘more resilent’ than boys at school: Girls from single-parent families outperform boys in class because they are less affected by parental input, study shows.” As a divorced parent of four […]