Raising Real Men: Surviving, Teaching and Appreciating Boys – a Book Review

The only problem with the book Raising Real Men: Surviving, Teaching and Appreciating Boys, is that I regret not having had the opportunity to read it earlier.  This 253-page volume (including the detailed index) not only helps us answer those frustrated mommy questions like “WHY did you do that?” when your feisty sons behave oh, so differently than your dutiful daughters. (Affiliate link) Raising Real Men is a must-read if you have boys!

Editor’s Note: we included an affiliate link to this book review of a book we have loved and recommended often. If you buy this book using one of our links, we might make a small commission at no extra cost to you. A thousand thanks for supporting us in this way!

(The event I was recollecting, as I said, was when my now grown-up son was about seven.  He wondered what would happen if he squirted the light bulb in his dresser lamp with a water pistol.  The resulting minor explosion was just one of many ‘experiments’ conducted by my now-not-so-little explorer.)

We have only been blessed with one boy, but he has impacted our family significantly!

The authors of Raising Real Men have six, so they are more than qualified to write this book; actually, they are not qualified just because they have six sons; they qualify because they understand that boys – just like little girls – are a picture of the image of God, tragically marred by sin. And that our focus must be on leading our sons into godly manhood, not just trying to manage them to make our lives convenient and more pleasant. p. 25

Hal and Melanie Young, the authors of this book, clearly speak the truth as they describe our culture’s desire to feminize men and our misguided attempts to ‘change’ our boys rather than understand them.

The Youngs not only exhort us to celebrate the uniqueness of our boys. But they also provide practical suggestions to train and ready them to use those unique God-given characteristics to be the men God created them to be.

Take a look at some of these intriguing chapter titles/subtitles from Part One – Virtues in the Rough:

• Resisting Feminization
• Boys Need Heroes
• Visual Media
• Heroes from History
• Bring on the Boldness
• When to Comfort, When to Encourage
• Standing Alone
• Responsibility, Then Freedom
• Learning to Stand
• What the Bible Says about Leadership
• Developing the Next Generation’s Leaders
• The Biblical View of Competition
• The Puritan View of Games and Competition
• What the Bible Says about Manners

 

Part Two – Civilization for the Tough

In Part Two – Civilization for the Tough, the Youngs discuss that raising manly men doesn’t mean raising barbarians.  Men can and should be civilized. p. 126 🙂  Part Two is concerned with preparing a young man to interact appropriately with a world that so desperately needs his godly leadership.

How can we teach our sons the things they will need to interact in society, to lead their families, to serve God?  Step by step, suiting the way God made them, in an intentional, thoughtful way… just the way we teach them everything. p. 126

Sometimes – many times – homeschooling seems overwhelming; homeschooling boys can be, especially.  I loved the above quote because it aligns with the old Puritan saying, “Do the next thing.”  Let’s make a plan and take one step at a time.

In this book review of Raising Real Men, I want to stress that this book will help you make that plan for raising your boys to be the men they were created to be.

One of my favorite chapters in Part Two is called “Your Own School for Boys.” This chapter may well be your favorite chapter, too, if you have been pulling your hair out trying to home-educate your boys!

Melanie Young has homeschooled six boys at a time and has obviously more experience on this subject than many of us. She explains why and how boys are different from girls in the learning arena and many practical suggestions to get the most out of your boys.  Chapter subtitles:

• Developmental Differences
• Developmental “Delays”
• Gender Differences in Learning
• Louder, Mom
• “I Think He Must Be Hyperactive…”
• “Why Do I Have to Learn This, Anyway?”
• What’s Your Goal, Son?
• The Benefit of Stress

This is great stuff! Additionally, chapters include endnotes with scriptural backup!

Additional news you can use about teaching boys

Other very useful information in this book pertains to teaching boys how to be faithful stewards of their money, why we need to teach them to have good manners, how the Bible looks at work roles, and how to deal with male/female relationships.  It even aids with considerations about choosing a college for the college-bound and describes the counselor role we move into as our children leave the nest.

Imminently readable, warm, and biblical, Raising Real Men will help you learn how to train and shape your noisy, dirty, rambunctious boys into real men who can stand on their own two feet and face the world, lead their families and fulfill the purpose for which they were created.

 

Enjoy those boys!

 

 

P.S.  If you want to order this excellent book for yourself and/or others, please click on the book cover graphic below.