Becoming the Rock
If you've not heard of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, you've not been plugged in to modern culture. (I'm not saying that's a bad thing!) The Rock is seemingly everywhere at once and it's easy to see why - he's charismatic, disciplined, rich, and ripped. The characters he plays are the ones many of our tween and teen boys look to and say 'wow - that's what a man looks like, acts like, talks like, etc.' The Rock, however, was not always the hulking man he's become. His transformati
Help Your Teen Son Grow Up by Serving
I don't know about you, but I'm tired of hearing all the bad things going on with boys these days. Falling grades and school engagement, increased drug use, failure to launch, the rise of ADHD.... The list goes on and on. Enough. Let's do something about it, one young man at a time. Want to know a great way to start? Help him to consistently serve someone younger or in need. Commandment 1B In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is tested and questioned by Satan, Pharisee's, Sadducees a
Ten Things to Teach Our Teen Sons
We are responsible for preparing the next generation of husbands, fathers, teachers, leaders, coaches, salespeople, service people, plumbers, etc. It's up to us, the adults of our society, to teach them what's important and how to live a productive, connected, and happy lives. This learning has to start at home, when they are young. If not, they'll enter the adult world unprepared, unmotivated, and disconnected. In order to avoid that outcome, here are ten things our sons nee
Kind Words for Teen Sons
Tell me if this sounds familiar. Your son gets home from school and heads directly to his room or spot in the house and basically checks out. You can't get a word from him for what feels like the 100th day in a row and it really bugs you. Rather than full sentences, you get a grunt, blank stare, or barely audible response. Well... the good news: you aren't alone. This is a normal thing that almost everyone goes through while raising a son. It doesn’t matter if you are a mom o
The Missing Piece
The rise of three new cultural norms came into being at the start of my high school ‘adventure.’ In the fall of my eighth-grade year, US News and World Reports starting publishing their ‘Top College’ rankings. Seemingly overnight one could actually say ‘School A’ was better than ‘School B’ or ‘School C.’ It was no longer a matter conjecture or opinion or fit… you could find out which was the 'best.' We poured over the results. We also started comparing the grads coming out o