In Defense of Boys
June 23, 2007 | Comments Off Brave parents are standing up against our culture’s recent push to make boys sit down and shut up. While our public schools may be afraid to let them be boys, some parents are doing just that, and looking for ideas on how to restore the natural order of things. Now, a new book helps parents resist the wussification of their boys…
I wrote “The Dangerous Book for Boys” as a handbook for boys with scenes like that from my childhood in mind. I wasn’t trying to please anyone else. I was just trying to free boys to be themselves again, the way we were when my brother and I were growing up. —- It’s about remembering a time when danger wasn’t a dirty word. It’s safer to put a boy in front of a PlayStation for a while, but not in the long run. The irony of making boys’ lives too safe is that later they take worse risks on their own. You only have to push a baby boy hard on a swing and see his face light up. It’s not learned behavior — he’s hardwired to enjoy a little risk. Ask any man for a good memory from childhood and he’ll tell you about testing his courage or getting injured. No one wants to see a child get hurt, but we really did think the bumps and scratches were badges of honor, once.
In Praise of Skinned Knees and Grubby Faces, Washington Post
The Dangerous Book for Boys
