Raising Boys

"This is the book I would recommend that all parents read. Steve Biddulph is saying that males have brains that are marinated in a different hormonal mix. Mums and female teachers need to understand this. The book is incredibly accessible and funny. For my own book, 21st Century Boys, I was looking at the influence of modern life on boys and I wanted to try to work out what it is about boys that might be causing them problems. All the statistics suggest that boys have more problems than girls. They are less likely to do well in the educational system. They are more likely to have learning difficulties and emotional and behavioural problems in their teens. During my research I also came across the fact that in 2008 the global balance tipped. More of us now live in cities than in the countryside. That’s obviously not good for a little boy who has got in his DNA the drive to run, jump and play. We really do need to take that into account and look at the conditions we provide for our sons. Steve Biddulph has plenty of excellent advice on how to do that. Boys, as you will hear from my next book choice, are natural systemisers and less interested in people. So it’s very easy for boys to be tuned into screens rather than people. And even when they want to run about they can be kept quiet in front of a screen. The quieter bright little lads can often be drawn to a screen-based lifestyle, which means they don’t develop emotionally as they should. As part of my research I wanted to find out how important an adult’s time and attention is in a boy’s early development. All the books I’ve chosen helped me gain that knowledge."