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Summary: Bringing Up Boys
Review: The book, Bringing Up Boys, by Dr. James Dobson is awesome! It is timely and filled with practical advice that parents will find extremely helpful. Dr. Dobson does a fabulous job not only in helping parents raise their sons, but he offers biblical principles that gives parents the TRUE authoritative facts about brining up boys. I learned so much about my son that I never knew. Don't waste another minute without learning the facts about boys. Buy this book today. It is a must read to for parents or guardians that are believers raising boys.
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Summary: Right On, Dr. Dobson!
Review: Dr. Dobson has addressed this topic with a refreshing candor that is immensely gratifying. As the father of a two-year-old boy, I found this book to be right on target. I am a conservative Christian and subscribe to many of the views of Dr. Dobson. I can see how this book will be a bit polarizing because of how forcefully he presents his case, but facts are facts. It is time that people of all political and religious persuasions began to look more at facts than ideologies. This book presents some strong arguments for traditional family values that are consistently supported by sound scientific study. This book is a must-read for all parents of boys!
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Summary: shame on this man
Review: he gives humans a bad name. horrible contrived crap, buy this if the world runs out of toilet paper and we're reduced to using books.
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Summary: Not truly - biblically based....
Review: I admire Dr. Dobson, but I think this book goes too far. It uses scripture as a reference along with psychologicl studies and statistics. The Bible should be the starting point of how to raise children, how to be parents, etc and not a mere reference(often out of context). The Bible should be proclaimed as the authority, not Dr. Dobson. Now, to the matter of Dr. Dobson wanting parents to take stands with him against homosexuality, pornography etc. the mission of the church is not to make these people the enemy... they are our "Mission Field" for preaching the Gospel. The only example in the Bible of doing what Dobson wants is the Pharisees, and Jesus didn't have kind words about these pious religously, self righteous types who scoff and look down upon the sinners.
Dr. Dobson is NOT the authority on raising moral, and Godly children, and he is not the authority on changing the course of this nation... Who is??? The Holy Bible is... It is the Word of GOD, and is inerrant, and sufficient for all spiritual concerns. God Bless you Dr. Dobson, but lets get back to the Bible as the authority.
Grace and Peace,
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Summary: Great Book For Anyone with Boys!
Review: As a first time mom I found this book to be refreshing and a reinforcement of christianity and the role of males in our society. The book brought back the idea of actually raising young boys to be men. To be family oriented, responsible, respectful, HETEROSEXUAL men. This concept is lacking today in far too many males. He provides a gret deal of insight on raising boys and on the importance of allowing to them to grow an develop while ensuring that boundaries are enforced. What a great book for anyone dealling with boys. Thank you Dr. Dobson!
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Summary: Dobson's teachings CONTRADICT Jesus's
Review: What I find interesting is that Dobson claims that we should let our sons play with guns, and do the 'harmless' bam, bam, you're dead routine. He claims this is a healthy male behavior. Dobson's teachings on this directly contradict Jesus's. If Jesus was on the earth now, do you think he would encourage people to have their sons play killing people? Shooting people is an act of murder, or does Dobson not see this? The fact that children are doing it in a role acting way does not make it any less insidious. Do you think if Jesus had a son while he was on earth, he would give him the Dobson advice, go ahead son, play the harmless game of bam bam, you're dead!???Dobson's teachings directly contradict Jesus's. Dobson pulled this one out of his own ego, and his imagination of what Jesus is. Or perhaps he didn't enter Jesus into the equation at all, but decided to speak for God himself. A disturbed concerned follower of Jesus
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Summary: Refreshing And Much Needed - Pediatrician
Review: I am a Pediatrician, and a patient's mother left this book following a visit. I took it home and began to look through it - I see such "How to raise kids" books frequently, as you can imagine. Most of it was good, solid, practical advice. Most parenting books are reminders of what we tend to forget in the hustle and bustle of daily life. That's a compliment, not a criticism. We physicians welcome any counsel to parents to relax about their little darlings, not fret about their child being slower or faster than another in their development, wondering if each challenge is evidence of some dire malady or another. What I really liked about the book is the refreshing reminders about the nature of boys. Their physicality, their noise-level, their energy, their love of competition, weapons made from bread or play-dough, their dirty pants and laughter at funny sounds. That "the experts" believe that these are socialized or learned behaviors, and that "boys and girls are the same" has been a terrible disservice to our nation's little guys - and their parents. Along with this calming counsel are chapters on the responsibility that comes with being a male. Finally, I dare to hope, boys may start to be raised to be men! Hats off to the good doctor - I returned my patient's book and bought several copies for myself and colleagues. Enjoy your boys!
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Summary: Medically inaccurate and damaging.
Review: I'm a pediatric physician who came by this book in a rather odd way.
Before I say anymore, let me assure anyone who is reading that the theories espoused in this book regarding child development and human sexuality are frequently flat-out wrong, and in many cases actually dangerous and damaging. In fact, do a simple Websearch on James Dobson - you will quickly see that he has been absent from the medical field for nearly 30 years and is not regarded as credible by any legitimate medical organization. After doing the annual medical check-up on a 15-year-old boy, I was pulled aside by his mother who expressed concern that her son was "suffering from gender-identity disorder." I really didn't know what she meant by this term, so after inquiring further it turns out that she was thought her son was gay. Of course I informed her that gender indentity and sexual orientation were two different things - which seemed to surprise and confuse her. After several minutes of explaining the difference, I thought to ask her where she was getting her information and she cited Dobson and this particular book. I assumed she had misinterpreted what she read; no informed physician would say such a thing. But I decided to check the book out myself. Well, it turns out that this is exactly what she had been told by this 'doctor'. Odd for someone who claims to be a doctor, Dobson does not understand what any knowledgeable physician knows: that gender identity is about which gender you identify with. It has nothing to do with sexual orientation, which is about who you are attracted to and is an entirely separate issue. Gays and lesbians are no more likely to be confused about their gender than heterosexuals are. Of course, that was just one of the many instances of ignorance - some of it truly astounding - that I came across in this book. In my 12 years of practice, I have never seen or read anything that was so out-of-touch with current research and medical realities. It was obvious to me that this book was not written by a real physician, but by a Falwell-type fundamentalist who put a "Dr." in front of his name in order to pass his religious and political beliefs off as fact. I am saddened that people like this boy's mother are actually lead to believe the discredited theories in this book; and I am concerned for the children who are subjected to this.
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Summary: Dobson followers prefer MALE children
Review: Unfortunately, many of the people I interact with daily are Dobson followers. A common trend among them is that when expecting their first child, most of them prefer male children. Some of them only want boys, never girls. Upon further inquiry, I realized they believe in Dobson's theory of sex based job division, where men with children can choose the career of their dreams, and women with children have to stay home the whole time to raise them. I thought this was an extreme view, and it certainly is not in the Bible. They keep saying the value of the sexes are equal, just the roles are different. Why then I wonder would they strongly prefer boys over girls? When I ask them that, they just blush and change the subject or give some lame excuse.. Deep down inside, they know they would rather have a child who can grow up to be an astronaut, and not one who, according to their distorted thinking, can only be her astronaut husband's housewife.
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Summary: Discouraging
Review: I have been a pediatrician for over ten years. I am also the mother of two young children and I work
part-time in a very rewarding career. I found this book to be incredibly upsetting. Dr. Dobson's thoughts are so archaic, conservative and paranoid. I searched for just one scrap or tidbit of helpful information but was unable to find one in the entire book. I found his ideas so out of touch with reality. He states that the majority of wives work outside the home yet he offers no support, no ideas for that majority of the population. He only had critical, guilt-inducing comments. He obviously believes that there is only one correct way to raise children, his way; the woman should stay at home and home school their children regardless of their profession, training, experience or needs. Men should be in charge of the decisions of the household. Get real! His ideas about traditional roles "men should serve as the family provider, the leader of the clan" are archaic. The story of R.L Dobson was irrelevant and not at all inspiring.
He offers no suggestions about childcare except to state that mothers should stay at home. So, would he have no women lawyers, doctors, politicians? He sites one study that stated that if others care for our children, the mother child relationship suffers. Please! One study does not generalize to the entire population. Their have been numerous other studies that refute the negative effects of childcare.
His paranoid concepts about homosexuality were disgusting. The idea that parents can prevent their children from becoming homosexuals is ridiculous. He has no evidence to substantiate this claim. He relays one example of John Paulk who works with Dr. Dobson and "turned away" from homosexuality, yet has been found in a gay bar. Give me a break! This is not at all scientific. George Rekers, Dr. Robert Spitzer and Dr. Joseph Nicolosi are in the minority who believe that this is possible. Our goal as Christians should be to love and accept others, especially our children, for who they are. Dr. Dobson's paranoid ideas about the public school system encouraging homosexuality are completely unfounded.
His support for homeschooling and the statistics he quotes are extremely controversial. His ideas about discipline are also poorly supported. He seems to encourage physical punishment. The pediatric literature clearly does not support physical punishment. In fact, physical discipline has been shown to lead to further aggression and acting-out , especially in boys.
I found this book completely irrelevant to the modern world. It was very discouraging as well. I will not recommend it to anyone and will in fact discourage anyone I can from reading it. It was a waste of my valuable time and money.
I hope in the future Dr. Dobson could write a book that would inspire hope, love, forgiveness and affection.
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