Rating: 
Summary: Interesting and Some What Useful
Review: As the mother of two girls and one boy, I have found, somewhat to my surprise, that raising a son really IS different! Because of that I've purchased most of the books out right now on raising boys. I found this book by Dobson to be interesting. His chapters on the biological differences in boys and girls were very enlightening. I also thought his chapter on the importance of fathers to families was excellent - and over due in the popular media. [yep, Dads really ARE important to their children it turns out!] In addition, I share Dobson's passion for having the mother in the home raising her children, especially when her children are very young. It is THE most important job in the world, and its about time *somebody* recognized that. His chapter on the mother's role in raising her son wasn't quite so good, seemed a bit shallow and under-developed. The entire chapter devoted to "preventing homosexuality" seemed misplaced and a bit obsessive to me. The book is sprinkled with references to homosexuality throughout and, frankly, I felt Dr. Dobson was a little over the top on the subject. He's theories on the origins of homosexuality are a little unusual as well. The book seemed very "black and white" throughout, and was heavy with statements that "all boys do XX" or whatever. My son may not be the 'typical' boy [though he does run around hitting everything with his 'sword' and 'fighting bad guys'....], but he didn't really fit Dobson's rigid mold. I think that while boys and girls *are* different, there is still a wide range of normal variation within the definition of 'healthy manhood'. Over all, I felt this book was worth reading and found many of his points interesting. Some of them were even helpful. But this book is not the 'end all' of boy-rearing books, and probably not the best one on the market either.
Rating: 
Summary: In response to previous review The Dobson Plague
Review: Have you ever read his book, 'Dr. Dobson Answers Your Questions' ? In that he states, and I paraphrase, a Christian woman who chooses to work puts puts her family in danger. It is something to that effect. He has no right to say that. Obviously for anyone who has children, their children should be their top priority. However Dr. Dobson's ideas have a cultish overtone, and he has the audacity to speak for God. I stopped being a Christian because of people like him. Did you notice that he followed his career to its very limit before he tells our daughters to give up theirs? That should be between our daughters and God, James Dobson should stay out of it. The feminists won all the most basic rights for his wife (education, vote, work etc.) but he still hates them. Doesn't he realize that they had to fight as hard as they did because the Christian men kept trying to squash them down?? I really believe we as a society need to expose and try to abolish the effects of the Dobson Plague.
Rating: 
Summary: WONDERFUL ADVICE FOR RAISING BOYS & GIRLS
Review: This book is a MUST-HAVE for all parents, parents-to-be, and teachers. Dr. Dobson gives wonderful advice for raising healthy, well-rounded, respectful, honest and caring boys -- who are the future. He does state his views on homosexuality and the feminist-movement rather matter-of-factly, but he also doesn't try to be "PC" (politically correct). He tells it like it is: that boys need strong, masculine role models; that boys and girls, in general, do better psychologically and physically when they are reared in a healthy, two-parent home and with mom (or dad) at home with them (if at all possible) rather than putting them in a day-care; that children, in general, learn best from seeing (modeling) than from instruction; that children today are bombarded with horrible messages daily via the media, the internet, etc. There have been many reviews that totally condemn Dr. Dobson's views and his writings; however, many of the reviewers don't seem to have read the book very thoroughly and are bashing this book without reason. If they don't share the same views as Dr. Dobson, that's understandable. But, many are of the negative remarks are completely unfounded: i.e. June 2003 reviewer that states (1) that Dr. Dobson should leave his opinions as just that, opinions -- well, he did (many times); and (2) that he says that girls are not to be raised to want a career AND children -- Dr. Dobson doesn't say that girls/women shouldn't seek/have dreams/careers, just that when they are blessed with the gift of a child, their child/children should become their priority. I totally agree!! Dr. Dobson didn't say that girls shouldn't study hard in school and excel. I was an "A" student all the way through school. I served in the US Navy and graduated with a degree in Psychology. I now have two small boys and have chosen to stay at home with them for as long as I can. I do plan to go on to graduate school someday, but in the meantime, my boys are my priority. I am in no way saying that it's been easy or perfect, but more parents need to prioritize better: God first, spouse second, children third (or close-second), career fourth. As a matter of fact, I've learned a lot from this book that I can apply not only to raising my boys but also to my relationship with my husband, which in turn will benefit my boys. This book is just TERRIFIC!!! May God Continue to Bless and Enlighten You and Your Family, Dr. Dobson!! :)
Rating: 
Summary: 2.5 star rating...
Review: Rating System:
1 star = abysmal; some books deserve to be forgotten
2 star = poor; a total waste of time
3 star = good; worth the effort
4 star = very good; what writing should be
5 star = fantastic; must own it and share it with others About the Book: The cover puts its plainly: Practical advice and encouragement for those shaping the next generation of men. MY FEEDBACK: To me this book was like so many Christian books on the market: All the points could be summed up within 10 pages and the other 290 pages of examples and stories used as fillers could be removed. This book was more about why boys are the way they are and the societal forces in the world that are against our boys growing up to become men of God. If there was any "help" or checklist of items to help me as a father work on raising my son, I didn't see it because it was too well hidden. I didn't want to read a book on child psychology but one on helping me parent better and some tangible steps to take hold of. I have the say that the chapter on protecting the kids from homosexuality was the type of tangible how-to I was looking for. Unfortunately more of the book didn't have that. Back to looking for different resource to hopefully learn from.
Rating:
Summary: Additional comment about previous review
Review: I am the author of the review stating that Dobson followers strongly prefer boys over girls. I wanted to clarify that I am not saying James Dobson believes or advocates this view. He does not. I am saying that because of James Dobson's belief in the differentiation of sex roles, with the male's role being more encompassing and free, most Dobson followers I know strongly prefer male children. Just wanted to clarify that point.
Rating:
Summary: Dobson's followers strongly prefer boys over girls
Review: I have had the misfortune to know about 20 of James Dobson's readers in the past few years at my place of employment. They subscribe to Dobson's view that men should work and be involved in the world, and women should stay home with their children all 18 years (and maybe after they are in college too). I was always appalled by this belief. The Dobson followers insisted that men/women, boys/girls are equal, just have different roles. But their TRUE feelings came out as these people were expecting their first child. Almost all of these 20 people had a strong preference for a boy instead of a girl. A few of them never wanted a girl, only boys. They even congradulated each other for wanting boys instead of girls. This is further proof that the Dobson sickness must be stopped. It will destroy our daughters' lives by keeping them forever the 2nd, less wanted, less desired sex. It will also destroy our sons' lives by turning them into egotistical men with a sense of domination and privelege over girls and women. The Dobson sickness must be stopped before it destroys our society. In the Dobson's family picture, James Dobson had his arm around his son, not his daughter or wife. They were sitting below the men. That photo captures his philosophy and sickness precisely.
Rating:
Summary: It's too bad we can't give negative stars
Review: My husband and I received this as a gift and were appalled at the anti-feminist, homophobic, religious morality rhetoric contained within this book. It is a dangerous misrepresentation of imperical psychological data to formulate correlations that are not only incorrect but also insulting. The level of chauvinism and bigotry are astounding. The author includes amusing antecdotes and a few remedial suggestions for raising boys. However, this only hides the fact that he wants you to raise homophobic, masogonistic children that will be more confused about themselves and the world that they live in. You will be better served choosing another book.
Rating:
Summary: Dobson would destroy my daughter's dreams
Review: My daughter has always wanted to be an astronaut. That is her dream. She is a teenager now, about to start college, and is an excellent student. She also wants to get married and have children. That is what most people want. I have stopped reading Dobson's books because according to him, she could only do 1 of the 2 things, not both. If I had a son instead of a daughter, he could do both, being a priveleged male in Dobson's eyes. There are plenty of examples of women who have great careers, and also raise great children. Hillary Clinton, Madeline Allbright, and Leslie Snyder to name just a few. I will advise my daughter to imitate these great women in terms of reaching her goals. Why should she listen to a man who will tell her what she can't do, instead of reaching for her dreams? She has a close relationship with God, and this is God's plan for her. I sympathize with the reader who posted the article on whether her daughter should listen to God or Dobson. I feel the same way. My daughter will listen to God INSTEAD OF Dobson, and she will make the world a better place for it.
Rating:
Summary: I never thought I would enjoy a book by James Dobson
Review: Let me start off by saying I am no conservative Christian. My husband bought this book for me as a sort of last-minute Christmas gift and he had no idea who James Dobson was. But hey, I'll read anything so I gave it a try. I found myself agreeing with quite a few of his points, mainly about how our culture has become frantic, overscheduled, overworked, and how our children are the losers when parents become less involved in their lives and more involved in their own. He points out how kids who eat dinner with their parents on a regular basis seem to have fewer problems with the law, drugs, etc. He also talks about how popluar culture has become ever more toxic, something we must struggle to help our children cope with or protect them from it. I agree with all of these things, even though I'm considerably more on the liberal end of the spectrum. At the core of the book (because it is about boys) is that this lack of parental involvement is harder on boys because they naturally need more supervision and guidance than girls to make good decisions. I really enjoyed reading his descriptions of how boys are more active and physical than girls because it gave me some insight into why my three year old loves running in circles roaring, then falling to the ground waving his legs in the air. The book gave me a lot of insight into how boys "work" and I think it will make me worry a lot less that my kid has something wrong with him if he finds it hard to sit still during Mass. I skimmed over some of the chapter on homosexuality, enough to know I was going to have to agree to disagree with him on that one. However, I was surprised that his tone in that chapter was full of sympathy for the kid who thinks he's gay, although his opinion of what to do about it differs from mine. His opinions of feminism I both agreed and disagreed with. To say the early feminists only had great ideas and no loony ones is to simplify a movement that was important but also very complex, and which has had good and bad lasting changes on our society. I will probably check his notes and read some of the writings he refers to to see if he put his own spin and opinion on these quotes or if he is reporting these womens' opinions accurately. I also skipped throught the last chapter, which basically says that Christianity is the only religion that satisfactorily answers all the questions about why are we here and what are we supposed to do. And finally, to address a couple of critiscims I read in the bad reviews. While he does believe in a stricter brand of discipline than is politically correct right now and probably has more faith in spaking than I personally do, I never got the impression that he thought you should be whacking your kids around all day, in fact much the opposite. He advocates keeping your cool, your patience, punishing when you need to but avoid constantly punishing and criticizing your child. I agree when he says we're the parents and we do need to assert our authority. And as for having a parent at home, well, I made the decision to be a stay at home mom because I saw value in having a parent at home and fighting against the hectic lifestyles that are becoming the norm in our society. So I basically agree with him on this one. But he DOES say that he knows some women need to work for financial reasons or EMOTIONAL ones, and he hopes that if you do work that you make the effort to stay connected with your kids and find stable child care for them. So...I enjoyed the book, learned a lot about boys, and kept my anger at differing opinions in check by skipping over those parts and knowing that I wasn't going to agree lockstep with all that Mr. Dobson had to say. But overall I think it's a good insight into our sons especially for those of us moms who were calm girly girls.
Rating:
Summary: The Gospel According To Morons...
Review: I was pi**ed off after reading the first chapter. Hoping to get some good advice on raising my son, I found myself receiving moronic views on life, religion, and kids in general. A hardcore purveyor of "Spare the rod, spoil the child", this guy thinks you should kick your kids a** everyday. If you don't like beating your kids all the time, you probably won't like his point of veiw. I was raised in the church but don't warm up to hearing others skrewed up opinions. Just because some minister says it, dosen't mean it's true. Don't waste your $$. Another product of our lame society believing these so-called religious leaders who are getting rich off their stupid opinions.
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