“Boys tend to do a good job of keeping their emotions in check, masking their vulnerability, and failing to ask for help when they need it—a nod to cultural norms learned early in childhood, experts say. (Think: Boys don’t cry.) But these stereotypical gender norms can keep boys and their teachers from building strong relationships, which research shows is critical to helping boys thrive in school.”
The Independent: The best way to help women? End the male loneliness epidemic.
Journalist Helen Coffey deploys both the 2023 Equimundo study and a brief interview with Dr. Reichert as she concludes that the “best way to help women, then, may be to finally start helping boys – by scrapping outdated and damaging notions of what it is to be a man and encouraging them to be emotionally open and foster deeper relationships.” Read the whole article at The Independent!
SELF: Here’s What I’ve Learned About Boys In My 30 Years As A Child Psychologist
The Penn Gazette: Toward a New Boyhood
“What a growing number of them have discovered, he contends—and what he hopes his book will illuminate for more—is a perverse irony at the heart of American masculinity. As an ethos, it reveres self-possession, competency, fortitude, and resilience. But as a behavioral code, it demands submission—quiet acquiescence to a narrow set of stereotypes that fence off whole realms of human experience.” Read more!
Fatherly: A Letter to my Grandson
“As you get older, people will tell you that character is innate and fixed, that some have it and others don’t. Ignore these people. They haven’t seen what I’ve seen and they haven’t heard what I’ve heard. It’s my job to watch boys grow up and let me tell you this: You can change yourself into the person you want to be. You have the chance to do that every day.” Read more!
The Wall Street Journal: The New Strategies for Raising a Boy
Time Magazine: It Doesn’t Take a Man to Raise a Boy
“The peer pressures of boyhood are so powerful, a strong sense of self is necessary if a boy is to avoid unhealthy identities. All parents need to remember that our connection with our sons is their primary fortification.” Read more!
The Washington Post: The Power of Listening to a Boy
“It was never easy being the parent of a boy. For years now, a crisis has been building for men, a crisis brought to a head by the #MeToo movement. Many parents raising boys are now questioning and waking up to the skewed ideals surrounding masculinity. What are we teaching our boys about what it means to be a man? How do we prevent our sons from making the kinds of mistakes we see and hear about all around?” Read more!
Brightly: 5 Tips for Getting Your Son to Open Up to You
“It’s hard for parents — or for anyone reaching for a boy, such as teachers or coaches — not to feel like a failure when their sons reject their generous, thoughtful invitations to connect. It feels like a comment on our job performance. For parents whose stress is already high or who are already struggling with self-esteem, anger and hurt are natural reactions. The boy becomes the problem — an attitude that boys quickly pick up on and attempt to shield themselves from.” Read more!
New York Times: It's Dangerous to Be a Boy
“They smoke more, fight more and are far more likely to die young than girls. But their tendency to violence isn’t innate.” Read more!