I’ve been teaching Human Growth and Development for a long time. Since we discuss how babies develop, the beginning of each class is a lot like a parenting course. Most of my students have remarked that they feel so much more prepared to be parents because of what we discuss in class about what babies … Read more
How many times have we said, when looking at our boys jumping around, wrestling on the grass, or shouting at each other to do something, “Oh, well, boys will be boys.” We understand that the behavior is typical of boys, that no one taught them to do it, and it usually does not end well … Read more
Perception becomes reality if boys are told “boys don’t do as well as girls in school.” Here’s how to shift that perception.
There’s a move to teach boys civility in school, but focusing on only boys’ behavior is only half the story. Here’s my take.
The term “neurotypical” is used specifically to refer to individuals who are not on the autism spectrum. People who are neuroatypical are said to be on the spectrum. The problem with this binary, on/off labeling is that there are a wide variety of behaviors that fall under the neuroatypical designation. If you include ADHD and … Read more
You may be aware of a recent event when a young woman, who was jogging on a public highway, was approached by a young man who wanted her to stop and pay him attention. The story goes that when she rejected him, he “blacked out” and when he woke up, he discovered her dead in … Read more
Earlier this month (July 2018), I was in Australia for the annual conference of the International Boys’ Schools Coalition (IBSC). I’ve mentioned this group to you before. This time, I went to a pre-conference adventure that involved going to a bush school. The school is in the Kangaroo Valley in New South Wales, Australia. This … Read more
I don’t know if your son has ever gotten into trouble at school, but mine certainly did. He’d come home with a note saying something to the effect that “your son received a discipline notice today because he [pick one of the following] yelled at another student | threw his books on the floor | … Read more
One of the many problems that boys have in school is that educators, for the most part, don’t see them as being interested in the academic side of school. By that I mean that boys will learn the facts that are presented in class, but they don’t seem to be concerned with the abstract nature … Read more
Two articles appeared recently in national magazines which address the issue of how damaging the amount of time adolescents spend on phones/tables/computers is to them. Specifically, both articles addressed the effect of screen time on adolescent brains and behavior. The first article appeared in The Atlantic in the September 2017 issue. Jean M. Twenge is … Read more