Why are so many parents fumbling raising boys?

[Anonymous]

The boys are not ok on a societal level and I think it’s too widespread to blame them. It has to be a parental issue.

What are areas of improvement you could’ve done in your own parenting of boys upon reflection?

[Anonymous]

Let's start with you.

[Anonymous]

My boy is pretty awesome so not much. But he had all sisters so maybe that helped? Definitely had to run him around more when he was little and prod more to do work in high school.

[Anonymous]

Sure, suddenly all parents are bad at raising boys. /s

The actual reason is that stereotypical boy traits are being less valued in schools and workplaces, while girls have more opportunities than ever, so boys suddenly feel a disadvantage. Add in social media and “manosphere” stuff and that’s it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The boys are not ok on a societal level and I think it’s too widespread to blame them. It has to be a parental issue.

What are areas of improvement you could’ve done in your own parenting of boys upon reflection?

What we are doing/ did is fine. What is failing them is schools and “society” in general.

[Anonymous]

Also to add, I know lots of really great boys, but it has taken a LOT of work and involvement from their parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sure, suddenly all parents are bad at raising boys. /s

The actual reason is that stereotypical boy traits are being less valued in schools and workplaces, while girls have more opportunities than ever, so boys suddenly feel a disadvantage. Add in social media and “manosphere” stuff and that’s it.

This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My boy is pretty awesome so not much. But he had all sisters so maybe that helped? Definitely had to run him around more when he was little and prod more to do work in high school.

Would you make this statement in reverse? As in, my daughter is pretty awesome but she had all brothers so maybe that helped?

[Anonymous]

Are boys all being raised badly or are girls simply more resilient and adaptable? Why do we make so many excuses for males?

[Anonymous]

So, OP, if your boy is so great, why did you feel the need to start this thread?

[Anonymous]

I have one girl and one boy (teens) and they’re both awesome.

What’s so bad with boys now? My guess would be video game addiction is a big problem, but also we have taken away a lot of opportunities for them to problem solve. There’s not as much free range sand lot games where the entire neighborhood showed up and they handled conflicts and scraped knees. Now it’s travel baseball teams and a ton of parent oversight. Less risk-taking. Fewer opportunities to fail because we are all so scared to let them make their own mistakes because college is so much harder to get into these days.

[Anonymous]

We’ve raised our four boys like you’d raise girls as the social/ emotional skills of girls are more valued in school-aged years. They all play a string instruments and began ballet at 2 (they still all are in dance at 4,6,9,13). They don’t play traditional boy sports so we can avoid the toxic masculine energy. They speak two languages. We require exquisite manners and don’t tolerate rough housing. They also have no access to screens without a parent present.

[Anonymous]

Outside physical activity, limiting screens, high expectations for school and learning, keeping busy with work and extracurriculars, lots of talking and listening, encouraging irl friend get togethers, encouraging independence — all the things we also did with our daughter.

You get one chance to be a parent - you can always get another job. Prioritise family as much as possible (while keeping a roof over your head).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The boys are not ok on a societal level and I think it’s too widespread to blame them. It has to be a parental issue.

What are areas of improvement you could’ve done in your own parenting of boys upon reflection?

If it is so wide spread maybe it is a societal issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’ve raised our four boys like you’d raise girls as the social/ emotional skills of girls are more valued in school-aged years. They all play a string instruments and began ballet at 2 (they still all are in dance at 4,6,9,13). They don’t play traditional boy sports so we can avoid the toxic masculine energy. They speak two languages. We require exquisite manners and don’t tolerate rough housing. They also have no access to screens without a parent present.

Post in 20 years with your results.