Grooosss. I can't recommend this book to anyone I know personally. I can't believe this was written in 2005. It seems more attune to a preacher's fireside radio broadcasts from the 1950's. For being a psychologist there is extremely little science backing up anything the author is saying. I'm pretty sure he threw Dr. on the cover just as 'click bait' to get more people to buy and believe what he's saying. And while I love hearing from the bible, the way the author contorts and mischaracterizes is so extreme that I feel any advice or opinion is unchristian in its core because of the falsities he is saying are true. To be honest, for example, I still can't get over from the very start that he claimed boys are born just more interested in military history than girls. Like, no explanation, no reasoning, no evidence, just, "Take my word for it, boys will be boys, and boys love military history (along with a long list of other things)." I guess my boys aren't very boy.

I gave it two stars because there are some infrequent qualities of practical parenting included in it (ie don't let kids watch violent movies/tv, make sure boys learn morality, etc.), but I'm tempted to just go ahead and give it 1 star.

This book had some pretty helpful and good points about raising boys although in reading it I kept thinking there are probably a lot of people who would disagree with the author's opinions. Also it was published in 2001 or 2002 so I often thought how the book would be different written today. I didn't know it was an older book until I had started reading it.

7/2/12: I like the format, easy to understand and read table of contents. Simple "acknowledgments", 17 chapters, End notes. No complicated sections, or weird things, just simple to understand table of contents.

Hilarious stories from "Up to no good: the rascally things boys do".

7/13/12:
- I wish the book was more linear. Chapter 13 "Boys in School" comes before Chapter 16 "Disciplining Boys". I wish it would start from when boys are young, till they are grown and beyond. Maybe with preliminary, or specific stuff (Chpt. 9 Homosexuality, Chpt. 10 SIngle parents and Grandparents) being put in the beggining or end. Seems the chapters are all sporadic, no logic or flow.

- great chapter on schooling, benefits of home schooling, and what to do with boys - who are typically more rambustious and unable to sit for long periods of time. Also the importantce of knowing your teachers, the school, the classes, everything about your childrens education - it's one of the most important things of being a parent.

7/16/12:
- chapter 15. Good stuff. Focuses on the importance of relationship. "Rules without Relationship lead to rebellion". Lots of emphases on the relationship, and how that will dictate how your child behaves. Really good chapter, found lots of good information here.

7/16/12: chapter 16, discipline. Great chapter. Lots of good subjects, how to discipline, find balance between very old school (rigid kings and queens demanding their kids be small versions of adults, and forcing them into 'shape' and the new way - let kids do whatever they want, they will discipline themselves, and learn on their own). Good section on loving your kid, and the discipline will be easier. If the kids act out too much, probably not receiving enough attention. Also good stuff on what teaching discipline also entails: showing self control, getting a job, achieving success in life.

7/17/12: chapt. 17, The ultimate priority. Great chapter on the importance of being there for your kids. one example, kids are bullied at school, and go through so much, they come home, but nobodies home. Mom and dad are at work - working for money money to buy more stuff, and live the 'american dream'. sad. Chapter ends with importance of spiritual influence, and how that's the most important thing to teach our kids.

I find it hard to rate this book because I have such mixed feelings after reading it. Yes I agree with the principles outlined and most of what is said. Why then do I come away feeling so blah and without hope? I think this is all very nice in principle but we forget that there are other factors at play here. It's not just a matter of using the correct 'cookie cutter' method and all will be well. I've seen good godly parents who's kids have gone off the rails and visa versa, non Christian families who have raised children who've come to be wonderfully productive Christians despite their upbringing. I think living biblically and teaching our kids biblically is all we can do and pray pray pray, knowing God is in control of our kids hearts and lives. When we turn parenting methods into ultimate plans for bringing up godly kids and it doesn't work out that way in the end it can be very damaging for a persons faith. I would suggest taking the principle that are taught here not because they are guaranteed to work but because it was God has called us to and leave the rest to God knowing in his strength we did the best we could. Not sure if I'd recommend this book, they would certainly have to be strong in their faith. If you are not Christian you will most likely find this deeply challenging on many levels.

This was one of the lemons. This book came highly recommended to me and is by a well respected author. However, the book was of little/no use to me.

Here are some of the reasons this book was no good:

1) In his chapter about how schools are geared toward female sensiblities and can make it difficutl for boys to succeed - his solution was to home-school your child or send him to a private, all-boy school.

2)There is a chapter on how to prevent homosexuality.

3)Throughout the book, Dr. Dobson refers to how the feminist movement has destroyed the central family and emasculated men in our culture.

If you think that homosexuals, feminists, and democrats have ruined our country and turned men into sissies, then this is the book for you. If, however, you are looking for a book that will help you raise strong, intelligent, respectful boys, then read Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Lives of Boys instead.

This book was loaned to me by a friend who had purchased it, but not read it. I only finished this book so that I could do a comparative review to Raising Boys: Why Boys Are Different-And How to Help Them Become Happy and Well-Balanced Men but after reading it, I realized that this book is far more comparable to I Am America than any serious or informative text on raising boys.

Despite the fact that Raising Boys is vague on details, out of date and amateurish in the more intimate areas of brain functioning and child development, it is still far more helpful, informative and useful than this book will ever be.

You can be forgiven for assuming, as I did, that Bringing Up Boys is a book concerned with providing information for parents in understanding their boys, a variety of tips and advice on their problem behaviors and an overall plan on how to smooth the journey.

Unfortunately, Dobson's only answer to all of the above is the same to any question asked in Sunday School (and here's a tip, it's ALWAYS a variation of the following three): Jesus, prayer, the Bible.

Okay, you expect a book by an evangelist to run in such a theme. However, I also expected a book by a person with a doctorate is psychiatry to provide informed, balanced, professional advice based on research, statistics, studies and personal experience.

No. Dobson unapologetically hates feminists, liberals and homosexuals and he makes absolutely no attempt at providing balanced information. This book is nothing more than fear-mongering propaganda. Though he uses many studies to try and validate his opinion, he out-right omits balanced data or studies that don't confirm his opinion. Some of the studies he uses are out-dated or invalidated by other studies. His statistics are used to validate his opinions in one area, then disregarded in another.

For example, at one point he claims that there's no evidence for a genetic inheritance of homosexuality because twin studies show that if one twin is homosexual, then the other is statistically "only" %50 likely to be homosexual as well. Yet, later in the book he claims that our genetics are a major influence on our life and uses another twin study to validate this by stating that if one twin gets divorced then then identical twin has a %45 chance of divorcing as well!



Now I'm not arguing about the nature vs nurture because the bulk of recent scientific studies show that we are largely products of our genetics - in that part, he's right but there's little else in this book that I can say that for.

Mostly, because this book's advice for raising boys can be summed up as:

1. JESUS!
2. Love them lots
3. Spend time with them
4. MAKE SURE THEY DON'T CATCH TEH GAY!
5. Homeschooling, yeah!

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This book was offensive to logic, reason and most of all, humanity. Dobson hates:

1. Homosexuals
2. Women's liberation
3. Liberals
4. Namby-pamby people who let their children play with gender-neutral toys and don't provide young boys with toy guns, don't smack and practice that hippy, attachment parenting philosophy.
5. The media

He is terrified of them all and this book, rather than being about Bringing Up Boys as the title suggests, is really about vilifying all of the above and scare-mongering his readers into hating and fearing them as much as he does.

Every chapter went something like this:

You need to spend time with your kids. I really FEEL for single mothers/homosexuals/poor people/women who don't fit my small and pathetic definition of what I think a woman should be. Unlike me, who is a disgustingly rich, upper middle class, white man, I understand that you don't have the benefits of choices about spending time with your children. Some of you have to work in order to survive. Gee, must be tough.

But it's still important so if you can't spend more time with them... eh, I really feel for you. Please enjoy my heart-touching tale of how I once met a single mother/homosexual/poor person/woman that didn't fit my small and pathetic definition of what I think a woman should be and changed their life in a positive way. I'm so awesome.



As a woman and a feminist, I want to be mostly offended at his narrow and pathetic views on what and who I should be. However, I'm far more offended on behalf of the homosexual community who he ALMOST outright incriminates of conspiring to rape your boys. Didn't you know? All homosexual men want is to have buttsecks with little boys. All lesbians want is to groom little girls into future lesbians and - perhaps worse, feminists. I especially love how he uses the example of the LBGT community in the UK pushing for the age of consent for homosexual boys to be lowered to 16 in order to try and prove his allegations about homosexuals. Yet he conveniently neglects to mention that this was in order to equalize the age of consent because the AOC for heterosexuals was already 16! At one point he even claims that the breakdown of marriage in the US is due to the rising acceptance of same-sex relationships.

Riiiiiiiiiigggghhht!

Like I said, logic isn't his strong point!

Similarly, women's liberation is also at fault for all the ills of society and most of all, for troubled young lads. It's too exhausting to address his many inaccuracies and prejudices toward women and since this review is long enough already, I'll just leave you to assume the worst - you'll most likely be right. I wish, instead, that he'd look at his own research. He claims again and again that fathers are essential to the raising of strong, good young men. I absolutely agree. So maybe men are to blame for the current male crisis?

Just an idea?

Did it ever occur to Dobson though? Nope!

While I am very Christian, and religious, I found this book to not really feel Christian. Dobson flat out berates feminists, homosexuals, and anything "liberal" to the point where I felt it went against typical Christian doctrine to love others and not judge others. While I'm sure much of the information he presented was well-researched, I felt it was too biased and out of context. I actually felt uncomfortable reading some sections and in the end knew he was wrong about many of his theories on raising boys. It bordered on the edge of depressing at times with his endless lists of the dangers presented in our society. I agree that boys need involved fathers, but I disagree that not having a father blatantly leads to all of the horrors he described. Many, many, other factors are involved. His political views are far too prevalent in his advice. If you are someone who thinks like Dobson, and is essentially close-minded when it comes to people and ideas that aredifferent, bordering on "worldly" then this book is for you. Like I said, I am Christian, but I do not feel Dobson's book was truly Christian in spirit. More like, paranoid, doomsday predicting, and berating to those who are less fortunate.

I was given this book as a gift as well. I saw this other comment written by Jane Leacock "I am raising three boys. I received this as a gift and was appalled at the anti-feminist, homophobic, religious morality rhetoric contained within this book. It is a dangerous misrepresentation of imperical psychological data to formulate correlations that are not only incorrect but also insulting. The level of chauvinism and bigotry are astounding. The author includes amusing antecdotes and a few remedial suggestions for raising boys. However, this only hides the fact that he wants you to raise homophobic, masogonistic children that will be more confused about themselves and the world that they live in.
If you are wanting advise on raising boys in modern society you are better served reading Raising Cain, by Dan Kindlon....less...more "
She hits it dead on. I never finishe dthe book and I couldn't even recycle it. It is teh only book I have ever thrown away.
Coincidentally, I am not even friends any longer with teh person who gave it to me.

I read "Bringing Up Girls" in preparation for the birth of my daughter and now that my son is expected to join our family in a couple of months I knew it would be important to also read Dobson's "Bringing Up Boys". I was not disappointed at all. Both books provide excellent advise and wisdom on the nature of boys and girls and best practices for raising them in today's world. While the books are getting a little dated, now 20 years. The truth contained in them are still incredibly relevant. Dobson goes in depth into the differences between boys and girls and how boys are uniquely created for specific tasks in live and a unique personality compared to girls. Both are precious in God's eyes. The pitfalls of our world are intense, especially in today's culture and this book helps to clearly identify them and provide guidance on how to avoid them. Ultimately though, Dobson stresses the importance of raising your son to know Christ as his own Savior, and to live that truth out in your own life as you raise your son. It is my prayer that I will be able to do that for my son as I raise him to know Jesus. I highly recommend this book to parents who are about to enjoy their first son, and many years more!

This book is an excellent book, for mothers and fathers to read. I realized in reading this book some of the mistakes that I have made with my son, and the book helped me to really get on track and develop a stronger relationship with my son.

Update on second read (March 2021, audiobook): I remembered very little of this from the first time reading, but my opinion is about the same - some good advice, but a lot more focused on decrying the ways popular culture undermines traditional family values than on child-rearing per se. Many of the observations rang true, though some seemed overstated or perhaps idolizing the 'good old days' too much.

First read (2016, print):
By no means an organized, 10-step practical program. More of a rambling survey of general advice and statistics. My main takeaways: avoid being so busy that you don't have time for your kids, guide and teach while walking the line between "buddy" and "dictator", and be willing to fight the negative aspects of the culture.

So, you're probably asking what buisness I had reading Bringing Up Boys. None really; I was just curious. You see, I wanted to get a different perspective, but I wasn't interested in changeing my views. (Thankfully) I must say that Dobson's by no means the worst writer ever to call the Earth home, and there have been other books churned out of the Christian Conservative campy that are substantially more out-there. You can tell he's sincere in his intentions, and he has Hence, I've gotta give him a handshake where a handshake is due. This is no masterpiece, of course. Dobson isn't William F. Buckley when it comes to authoring good,well-written books that promote traditional ideals; he's obviously not an intellectual, and his craftmanship abilities at writeing are in every way limited. Other then this, some of the beliefs in Bringing Up Boys have more holes then Spongebob. A good example of this is a chapter on homosexualty. Dobson doesn't even go into the point of varition in regards to sexualtiy that occur in animals, and he seems oblivous to the anthropolgical evidence of homosexuality's existence since the dawn of man as well as numerous biological similarties among gay men. There are more examples of this, obviously. Because of this, I can't recomend Bringing Up Boys for anyone;I simply disagree with everything Dobson has to say. He's got a very dogmatic way of looking at things, and you should look at what others have to say.