Family, Faith, and Fridays: Raising Real Men Review and Giveaway

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Raising Real Men Review and Giveaway

Raising Real Men is the brainchild of Hal and Melanie Young - authors, publishers, and parents of 6 boys and 2 girls. This phenomenal company has raised the bar in homeschooling and public school families alike, challenging parents to become heavily involved in the rearing of their children. They provide books, audio tapes, and online seminars and also speak at many homeschooling conferences to help you along. My favorite resource - the incredible book, Raising Real Men, which was awarded 2011 Book of the Year by the Christian Small Publishers Association.

Oh where to even start? I gave a copy of this book to my husband for Father's Day several years ago and have recently enjoyed reading it myself. If you are raising boys, this should be on your must read list! Really! There are plenty of books out there about raising children, many very good, but let's talk about B-O-Y-S. Well, they are just wired a little differently and therefore you may have to parent just a little differently. And trust me, Hal and Melanie know how to parent boys. They do have SIX after all!

Raising Real Men is broken into two parts - the first titled Virtues in the Rough and the second, Civilization for the Tough, each covering 7 chapters. The chapters are packed with information, hence all of the yellow highlighting in our copy. Seriously, get out a highlighter...you will want to remember much of this stuff. Written in an easy to read and conversational tone, Hal and Melanie write from their hearts and from a Christian perspective. It is like having a conversation with a friend. From helping your boys find appropriate heroes, and no, superman does not count, to teaching them about stewardship and winning, they address topics that are essential to guiding our boys to be Godly leaders of their homes as well as their communities.

So what were my favorite chapters? It is hard to stop at just a few but here are some things that really stood out to me-

"Our focus must be on leading our sons into Godly manhood, not just trying to manage them to make our lives convenient and more pleasant." (page 21) hmmmm, blush, probably guilty of that! You know how boys are. Compared to our girls they are messier, louder, more intense, louder. But I love how the authors gently remind us that the Lord made them that way for a greater purpose and that when we embrace those characteristics rather than fight against them, we will bless and be blessed. I am working on it!

"...we have an absolute responsibility to give our children physical protection.. That protection shouldn't become the unmanning of our sons, though. Boys need to have the freedom to take reasonable risks." (page 51) ummmm, guilty again! But they are so right! And I am working on that one too, promise.

"...setting time limits and seeing that subjects which ran over the allotted time were finished during 'free time later were very motivating" (page 153) OK, I realize that not all of you homeschool, but take my word on this, this is BIG! And can be applied to things other than just schoolwork. What is up with boys and procrastination?

"You have got to raise boys that know when to get filthy and when to clean up. It's all about appropriateness." (page 180) YEP! 'Nuff said.

I could go on and on with gems after life changing, yet practical, gems of truth. I told you...yellow highlighter is a must!

Got boys in your life? You need this book. Think you will have boys in your life? You need this book. Go on and get a head start. Sometimes they are a little complicated to figure out. But, they are worth it!

You can buy Raising Real Men with bonuses for $15.00. You can also get it for your Kindle, in ebook form, and in audio! A FREE study guide is included with each order.