really practical and helpful! | Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys

Makes me excited about the possibilities with my son | Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys | Stephen James, David S. Thomas

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	• Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys Stephen James, David S. Thomas Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2009 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A must read for any Christian family with boys

I absolutely love this book. It has provided quite interesting insights into who my little man is. It also brought up questions and topics I wanted to discuss with my husband. If it were not for the book, I would not have known to bring it up.

really practical and helpful!

I've read a bunch of parenting books - but, I must say that this one is one of my faves. When I read it, I don't feel like I'm wasting my time with a bunch of fluff. There are great sections on practical areas such as developmental stages, learning, relationships, discipline and more. The book is big - 340 pages - but it is well worth reading all the way through.

Section One: The Way of a Boy
In this section, James and Thomas describe the different developmental stages that a boy goes through. And they give helpful tips for parents at the end of each description.

Section Two: The Mind of a Boy
The first part of this section reviews what a boy's mind is like physiologically, and the theoretical implications of that. It basically puts forth that boys are typically spatial, problem-solving, and may struggle in the schoolroom environment for various reasons.

Section Three: The Heart of a Boy
This final section of the book is divided up into 4 chapters: Nurturing a Boy's Heart, A Boy and his Mother, A Boy and his Father, and Rituals, Ceremonies, and Rites of Passage. The book then ends with a few pages on hot-button topics such as: sex, drugs, porno, ADD, etc..
Near the beginning of this section, they say,
"No guy makes it past seventeen or eighteen without receiving his fair share of dings to his manhood - and that's if he's lucky. By the time most guys get their driver's license, they have already experienced enough emotional and spiritual fender benders that their hearts are dented for years to come...When a guy's heart has been wounded, the results are significant: Self-protection, distrust of others, suspicion of God, and fervent reliance on the four horsemen of self-sufficiency: training, talent, intellect, and willpower."
But, they also paint a picture of how hard it can be to relate to a boy - esp. at certain stages. For example, boys can go through a stage of being inarticulate, hardheaded, annoyed, defensive. But, we as parents need to try to break the emotional code and show unconditional love. They suggest different ways to see him for who he is, "name" him (or use positive/loving nicknames to reinforce to him the positive aspects of his identity), and patiently draw him out - being willing to pick your battles when it comes to making a big emotional push. Something big and overwhelming can't happen all the time, otherwise it will become commonplace and ignorable.

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Makes me excited about the possibilities with my son

Growing up most of my life with just sisters and then raising a daughter, I felt ill-prepared for raising my son. I was given this book as a gift and found myself absolutely captivated by it, reading every chapter as quickly as I could. I now feel I've been given some tools to help me in the journey ahead and I want to give it to every family with boys that I know. It honestly makes me excited to raise my son into a man of character, comfortable with a whole range of emotions, and confident in himself. It even helps me understand my husband better (and appreciate the great job his parents did with him!!!).

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As the father of 3 boys...

I think this is my ever review of a book on Amazon.com. This book is worthy of my praise. The authors are practical and wise in their knowledge of boys and how parents can relate to boys. The insights are amazing and God-given. Next to the Bible, this is the best book that I have ever read. I thought I was just going to learn about parenting my sons, which I did. But I also discovered things about me as an adult boy who is still incomplete in many areas. Men of all ages, in the midst of parenting or not started or just finished, need to read this book. Very well done.

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Wild Things...

I first purchased this book for my son for Christmas not having read it myself. He read it, he read it with his wife and it changed how they relate to their boys. They told me how they switched their thinking and the whole family was better because of it. So next opportunity, I purchased another one and gave it to that family. I have just continued to do that. It's one of those books that really helps in frustrating times at the same time it brings honor to the boys, teen boys, and to young men because they are affirmed and given permission to become who they really are rather than wear a label put upon them by others that doesn't help them in anything. Let's face it, if you're perfectly parenting you don't need this book, but I don't know anyone like that.

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Playing off the themes in the Caldecott Medal-winning children's book Where the Wild Things Are, this informative, practical, and encouraging guide will help parents guide boys down the path to healthy and authentic manhood. Wild Things addresses the physical, emotional, and spiritual parts of a boy, written by two therapists who are currently engaged in clinical work with boys and their parents and who are also fathers raising five sons. Contains chapters such as ?Sit Still! Pay Attention!? ?Deficits and Disappointments,? and ?Rituals, Ceremonies, and Rites of Passage.?

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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