Building Boys, Jennifer L. W. Fink
Building Boys, Jennifer L. W. Fink
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
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Building Boys
Raising Great Guys in a World that Misunderstands Males

Author: Jennifer L. W. Fink

Narrator: Emily Sutton-Smith

Unabridged: 8 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 07/11/2023

Synopsis

We want to raise well-rounded human beings—we're just not quite sure how best to do it. Confounded by rapidly changing gender norms, today's parents are attempting to raise kind, compassionate, emotionally sensitive boys in a society that simultaneously rewards stereotypical masculinity and is increasingly hostile to boys. Teaching boys to respect others will help them in the future—but can make life awfully difficult in the here and now. Making the world a safer place for women and girls is not the only reason to rethink our boy raising practices. Current culture harms our boys too—and they need (and deserve) as much support as girls and women.

Building Boys is written by an in-the-trenches #boymom who intimately understands male development and the challenges currently facing boys and their families. Fink offers ten rules that parents can use to guide their parenting choices throughout their sons' lives. These rules range from emphasizing emotional intelligence to letting your son struggle and ultimately accepting him as he is. Fink explains both the science and research behind each rule as well as stories and anecdotes from families. Parents are taught how to apply the rule to a variety of common parenting challenges. They are as applicable to boys with ADHD, autism, and learning challenges are they are to neurotypical boys.

About Jennifer L. W. Fink

Jennifer L. W. Fink has been parenting boys for two decades. An award-winning freelance journalist, she is the author of the book The First-Time Mom's Guide to Raising Boys: Practical Advice for Your Son's Formative Years. She's also the founder and creator of buildingboys.net, a website and global community for parents of boys, and cohost of the podcast ON BOYS: Real Talk about Parenting, Teaching, & Reaching Tomorrow's Men. She lives in Wisconsin with her family.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Katharine on July 03, 2024

Parenting boys can feel very fraught during this time of rapid social change. How can we honor our boys while guiding them towards positive influences? Where should we push back against cultural norms that shame boys and where should we show our boys the pitfalls of going along with the (often sexis......more

Goodreads review by Barbara on March 18, 2024

I'm glad I read this book. Admittedly, I thought this one might be a dnf a few times, as some of the information is basic, but I really enjoyed the last two chapters. I'd highly recommend it for those who might want to reconsider old school thinking about parenting, but otherwise it's a good read, b......more

Goodreads review by Gwen on September 10, 2023

I dog-eared many a page in Ms. Fink’s latest and best read. Written with a healthy dose of humor and very accessible, this is one of the best parenting books I have read—-and there have been many. My son is now a high school freshman and the timing of this read is spot on, though it would have been i......more

Goodreads review by Malin on November 02, 2023

Some good info to be aware of: 1- Don't rush formal education. 34% of boys with August birthdays who start Kindergarten (and are nearly a year younger than their peers) are diagnosed with ADHD. They are just not ready. 2- Porn can't be ignored. Most kids accidentally access it by age 11- by googling......more

Goodreads review by Isaac on March 20, 2024

Despite the typos and mistyping I enjoyed the message of this book. The patriarchy harms boys and girls alike, and I like seeing more people talk about how best to handle that when raising sons in particular. Found this book while just walking around in Cambridge Public Library and I was like "ooooh......more

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