Me with my lovely wife, Kathy:

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Helping boys become the right kind of men:

Right after the Superbowl I posted a Something to Think About piece that spoke about an obvious theme in the Superbowl ads--the struggle with being a man in today's world. (Click here, and scroll to Monday February 7) In that post I referenced an article by Al Mohler.
Since then several readers commented on the my piece. One mom of a young teen guy, after commenting on the difficulty of encouraging guys to defend the honor of women in today's nonviolent era, said of her son, " He is very protective of [his sister]. I get that this is an internal "thing," a built-in impulse, probably a God-given reaction to defend, but isn't it just easier to give the kid a bottle of masculinity? [referring to a new line of "hyper-masculine" cosmetics for guys, mentioned by Mohler in his article]Problem noted--yes, but solution found--no."
I also noticed since I wrote the article that I actually had missed a couple of commercials about the issue. Several talking heads on TV have also picked up on the theme. I'm not sure if he intended it as such, but Mohler posted another piece about young men that is a good follow-up.

OK there is the background for what can be a great conversation. I am confident that my friend is not the only one who has questions about guiding boys into becoming solidly Christian men. Some books by good people have been written on the subject.
What ideas do you have?
What has worked?
What books or other resources have you found helpful and why?

Try to keep your input short. Check back, read the comments, and let's help one another.

Let's see where it goes.

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