James Dobson is a power hungry, authoritarian homophobe who worships power instead of Jesus. He also thinks you should whack/hit your children to teach them. This man is neither a man of God or a reliable psychologist.

This book includes some controversial topics that I don't necessarily agree with, but overall it was good practical advice on raising & disciplining boys. With 3 crazy ones running around my house, I'll take all the help I can get!

What a fantastic book for any parent with boys!

This is the first book of Dr. Dobson's that I've read, and it was exactly what I needed. I have a toddler who is all boy, and I've found this book to be spot-on so far. It provides helpful information on how to raise boys (yes, they are different than girls!) and goes into some detail about the various culture issues boys face in school and the world at large. At time, this reality check is a bit scary--especially since boys have even more obstacles now than when the book was published in the 1990s. However, the author continues to encourage the reader throughout the book and to point to God as the ultimate Father and Protector.

In a culture fraught with individualized truths, relative realities, anti-masculine messages, and perversions of every kind, it is our duty as parents to steer our kids in the way in which they should go. I'm so thankful for this book and encourage any parent of boys to pick up a copy today. (There is also a Bringing Up Girls book, which I'm sure is just as helpful.)

Whenever I read parenting books (or any book for that matter), I try to take something away that I can apply as a mother or try with our son. There's no way I can come up with all the great ideas that are shared among the parenting community on my own (seriously, some are so amazing they have changed our lives!) and I'm thankful to have resources to turn to to help me on this journey. One such book that came highly recommended to me was Bringing Up Boys. I was familiar with James Dobson from my childhood when I listened to Adventures in Odyssey as part of his Focus on the Family organization. But, I haven't read or heard much of him since.

And, perhaps maybe now I know why. Bringing Up Boys was the most conservative approach to raising a son that I've come across so far ... and I found so much of it outdated that I rolled my eyes a time or two. True: I want to raise my son to be a respectful, genuine, God-fearing, hardworking contributor to society (all things Dobson stresses). True: I want him to love his neighbor, be full of joy and understand how to treat women (all things Dobson stresses). True: I want him to make wise choices and learn from his mistakes (all things Dobson stresses).

But, what I don't want, is to pigeon-hole him into a life that he has zero freedom or believes there is only one way to approach a situation/problem/opportunity. And, unfortunately, I felt while listening to Bringing Up Boys that Dobson believes parents should raise boys in one specific way, and one specific way only ... with SO.MANY.RULES.

Boundaries are important, yes. But so much of what he was encouraging parents to do was outdated and frankly, a little too much for me. There are times, as parents, when we have to make difficult choices (I'm certainly nowhere near the teenage years yet, but I imagine those will be the times). With the advances in modern technology, our children have access to just about anything and yes, there has to be monitoring of it. Dobson leads listeners to believe that if you give them access to something as simple as the television they will be brainwashed, start doing drugs and become violent individuals. #toobigaleapforme

I'd like to think that I could trust Graham as he grows. That he will know how we operate as a family and what is appropriate to watch (and what isn't) on TV, for example. Will I need to nudge him here or there? I'm sure I will. Dobson made too many leaps for my liking ... making it seem as though if I'm not watching him 24/7 he will turn into a horrible human (beyond just the TV example). And, well, that rubbed me the wrong way.

Also, I believe there are a lot of different approaches/styles to parenting. For example: Dobson discussed the importance of gender roles and how boys do this and girls do that (and how it's simply in our DNA to behave in that manner). Some of it I agreed with (boys have large amounts of testosterone which makes them more likely to want to wrestle/be aggressive); some of it I laughed at. This notion that boys can't share emotions or that they have to come off as strong in every situation is just unrealistic. Some of the best moments of my life have been when I've seen my dad cry—and he's one of the strongest people I know.

Dobson uses scare tactics in his parenting recommendations and I simply couldn't connect with that. Did I agree with his encouragement to teach your son to put the Lord first in His life? Absolutely. Did I agree with his parting words to remind yourself that your children are on loan to you for 18 years and to take your responsibility as their parent seriously? Yes! Did I agree with his thoughts that mothers who work will essentially ruin their son's lives and play a big part in their failure as an adult (not to mention breakdown of the family unit)? Nope. Nope. Nope.

I know I'm a conservative gal, but this was almost too conservative for me. Read with a grain of salt (and, of course, take my opinions about the book the same way—I am NOT an expert mother and this review is NOT judging anyone else's approach/thoughts/opinions on parenting).

I can't quite put into words what I hated about this book. Let's try... It is VERY judgmental and opinionated. (P.S. I'm not an atheist.)
Worst of all it had almost none of what I had hoped most to get from it: practical advice. Instead this book was filled with negativity.
The title should have been: "What is wrong with the world today."

The author also relied too much on statistics and studies, what other people said and proved. (I'm all for it, in moderation.)He said very little on his own, that is, he made few original points. Some pages were just facts and statistics and I often caught myself wondering and thinking "what is the point?", "what are you trying to say with all this?", "get to the point", "say it in your own words".

Raising boys by design and Raising boys are both much more helpful than this book. I expected more humbleness and less bigotry from an accomplished Christian author like Dr. Dobson.

Un libro con consejos vagos y generales sobre la crianza de los varones. Las ideas de Dobson sobre la educación son muy tradicionales y enfocadas en la religión y el establecimiento de una idea clásica de familia.

This was a great book. As I read, it made sense of the things I saw in my students who were boys and even some of the things my Hubby does and thinks! Dobson walks the reader through how boys are different, mentally, physically, behaviorally, and how those differences impact the way a father or mother relates to them. He discusses the impact of current cultural trends, and how they will affect young boys. He speaks to the single parent, grandparents and other adults in a growing boy's life.

Only one place did I balk or disagree. When he talks about education, he makes the argument involving US test grades with other countries. I have a big beef with this and believe it is an invalid way of determining the success or failure of the US school system. Here in the US, we test *everyone*, and everyone is required to attend kindergarten through high school. Many countries out there, China being one, only allow a portion of elementary aged students to continue into jr. high, and of those, an even smaller portion go on to high school. Thus, they only test their elite students. So, of course, their test scores will be higher. I'd be fine if US test scores are only compared to those countries who also test everyone. But its unfair otherwise.

I chuckled at one place. In his evaluation of a particular parenting style and their hopes, he calls it a "pipe dream". After his warning about protecting your boys from drug use, it was humorous to find a drug reference.

Over all, I'd recommend this book to anyone with a son or boys from whom they are responsible for. I wish I'd read this before I started teaching!

I found this in a little free library, and it was one that a good friend of mine had recommended years ago. Based on the author alone, I honestly expected to hate this book.

It was actually not terrible for the first eight chapters, although I thought it should more accurately be called "Bringing Up Children,” since none of it was really specific to boys.

Then I reached chapter nine, and it was all downhill from there. Just a bunch of very conservative fear mongering and propaganda. He included a few news articles and stories that I thought had to be either fabricated, missing information, or extremely fringe. I looked up some of them, and couldn't find many of them because of how old they were (since this book is 20 years old). One article I did find, though, was an obviously satirical article that Dobson included as serious. I looked it up specifically because I could not believe that anyone, fringe or not, could possibly have written that article seriously. I was right. That inclusion was a huge credibility fail in my view. It's like he was just trying to find the most outrageous stories he could possibly find to prove his point that any kind of leftist ideology is absolutely absurd.

This book was about 2/3 basic practical parenting advice and 1/3 conservative parental fear mongering. Altogether, I do not recommend it.

I borrowed this book based on several recommendations. I was told it was Christian based, which I did not mind. However, once I started listening getting past the anti-feminism, anti-gay, and extreme conservatism I had to shut it off. Chapter 9 entitled The Origins of homosexuality is what pushes me over the edge. It started by him reading a letter from a "confused" young boy. Then talked about boys assuming girl play activities. He responded to this young boy said he and his parents needed to pray that these were passing desires and if he prayed hard enough you could be straight. You cannot pray the gay away.....

It's a good book, with lots of useful tips. I borrowed a copy, and found myself wishing I could highlight passages, so I guess that tells me I wish I owned it? Some of the material seemed more geared toward parents of older boys, not really the toddler/little boy set, but all underscored the importance of consistent parenting, especially on the part of the father. One detraction was that he didn't really have much to offer in the way of hope or encouragement for single moms, or those whose husbands are often absent (military, men working multiple jobs so Mom can stay home, etc). As an example, particularly disheartening was the conflicting advice that, given the prevalence of child abuse today, parents should try not to let children out of their sight, even at church, and should never leave their kids alone with teenaged boys. However, single moms needed to reach out to their community and find strong male role models for their boys. While I see where he is coming from with both of those statements, and I think there is truth in both of them, on the surface, it makes an already daunting task seem impossible. I would say it is a worthwhile read, and is PACKED with statistics and information, but if one is looking for hope and encouragement for the task at hand, I still love and highly recommend Meg Meeker's book, "Boys Should Be Boys."

Not what I was hoping for so far. At page 50, we've discussed how when boys get to teenage years it is best to just get through it rather than solve the problems.

Now on teenage violence, suicide and murder. It's an important topic, but not one that concerns me on a person level. I'm hanging in there ...

page 100 or so. I am deeply disturbed by this book. On some topics, I'm in full agreement like teaching your children to love God, the importance of a parent at home, on others I think his advice is very stereotypical and not a fit for us. Not in favor of boys showing emotions, playing with traditionally girl's toys, or mothers bonding with boys over preschool age.

I loved this book! I read Bringing Up Girls and really found it profitable. Having just had my first baby son, this is the first parenting book I listened to and it did not disappoint.

Like Bringing Up Girls, this book mixes scientific data with scripture to best understand how to raise your boys or girls biblically and meet their own unique, God given needs and desires.