Rating: 
Summary: A must for committed parents
Review: My wife and I are the proud parents of a bright, happy, well-adjusted five year old boy, and we found Dr. Dobson's insights right on the money. His principles may be rooted in conservative principles, but they make plenty of sense when it comes to raising boys--making sure there are good male role models for them, encourgaging them to respect authority, their elders and women, and making sure they get plenty of exercise! This is crucial, since so many kids who are diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, in his opinion, spend far too much time playing video games and not burning off some of that energy in the backyard.
Dobson has his critics, but give this book an honest chance if you have young children--especially boys.
Rating: 
Summary: Should my daughter listen to God or to Dobson???
Review: God has told my daughter to become a doctor, she is so bright, and will save lives. And God has told her to have children, she would make a wonderful mother. God wants this, my daughter wants this, and I want this. But wait we forgot to check with the master authoriy..Dobson. Dobson's commandment says girls can't have careers and children too. Shall my daughter listen to God, or to Dobson? My daughter will listen to God. Dobson will be bitterly disappointed. For a moment there, he will be reminded he is not God.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow
Review: I am not yet a mother, and all I can say after reading this book is, wow. Alot of the tips for dealing with boys have actually really helped in my relationship with my husband and they have certainly helped me when dealing with the boys I work with at daycare. There's a 50/50 chance that I will have a boy someday, and if I do, I will be glad that I have read this book. I would recommend it to anyone who works with boys or young men and to any expecting parents. Many of the things in the book will help you understand your daughters better as well, and will help you provide a safer, healthier growing environment for your kids, regardless of their gender. Definitely, two thumbs up!
Rating:
Summary: The Gospel According to James Dobson
Review: James Dobson has not studied the women's movement, nor does he seem to care about the right of half the human race to the priveleges which he has enjoyed. Everyone knows that there are differences between men and women, but Dobson ignores the fact that there are differences AMONG men and women. He states in the book that girls are not discrimintated against in school. As a minority girl going through public schools and later, university, I guarantee you I faced a LOT of discrimination for being a girl. Most teachers were not that way, but a few were, especially in the older grades. Boys still have an advantage in that area. And Dobson advocates that all women with children stay home and raise them til they go off to college, at which time they can purse a hobby. Dobson doesn't consider that there are differences among women, and that THIS IS A BAD CHOICE FOR ALL WOMEN TO MAKE. Did anyone ever tell HIM that he can't pursue his dreams after his daughter was born? It seems he pursued his career full speed. I agree with some of his points, such as honesty and respect. However, Dobson should understand that the every fact that he had defined such different roles for men and women, where women stay home, and men get to pursue whatever career they want, will seriously affect girls. A girl under his agenda will not be motivated to study or earn highter degrees, since her intellect won't be used in her career of being housewife. I have seen this firsthand and it is also just commonsense. Why develop something that can't be used? If he makes the argument that she could choose not to have children I would say, that is the most natural desire in the world, and most people want children. This girl's brother in Dobson's world can have children, and pursue any career he wants. I would advice James Dobson to express his opinions, as opinions, not as the 11th Commandment. Jesus never said such a thing. In fact, there are women with children in the Bible who support their families financially. Interestingly, Dobson's 11th Commendment gives his class, white born-again Christian straight males, the most priveleges. Coincidence? NOT!!!
Rating:
Summary: I love this book!!!
Review: As a conservative, Christian married mom to a 14-month-old boy I have to recommend this book to everyone-even those not raising boys. I recommend this book for any married women so that she can understand her husband a little more. It really explains the difference between boys and girls, and how to accept that boys are more active than girls are. I really like how he explains how the feminist movement has ruined the lives of many men... Since reading this book, I have become more aware of the men-bashing that goes on in this country and I am sickened by it. My mother read many of Dr. Dobson's books while she was raising me and I am a better person for it. My husband and I will definitely be reading Dr. Dobson's books as our son grows up....
Rating:
Summary: This book has helped me with my 2 young boys.
Review: Dr. Dobson has done his research and has scientific facts that support boys are different not only physically but also mentally and cannot be more like girls. The women's movement has really portrayed men in a bad way. I am a 31 year old stay at home mother and in today's world I am doing the best I can to rear my boys into men who respect women while taking on the traditional male role. I am an educated woman with a degree in Computer Networking Technology and I served in the US Navy. My husband is a career Navy sailor and it's tough rearing 2 boys on one income. I feel that my boys need me to stay home with them because my husband is gone a lot in the Navy. I make sure to let my boys know how proud I am of their father and that they should feel the same way but I do understand the hurt they feel when he leaves. I let them know it's ok to cry and show their emotions. My husband is an excellent father. His mother has done well with him being a single mother! Dr. Dobson's book does not say single mothers are incompetent; it's fact that it's harder to raise boys and girls as a single mom and Dr. Dobson respects that. I do too! Some of the previous reviews have indicated that this book is one sided and that ALL boys are that way but I guess they did not read the book carefully or that they only see what they want. Dr. Dobson has stated very clearly and very often that not all boys are aggressive and domineering and not all girls are passive and submissive. We are chemically and genetically different and it affects our personalities and our environment has a huge impact on our personality as well.
This book has helped me to understand why my boys are the way they are and that they are not bad kids because they have a tendency to be loud, obnoxious and daring at home and God knows they drive me insane sometimes. They can be very sweet and shy around people they don't know and they do behave very well in public places. And they adore babies so I think I am doing a pretty good job being a virtual single parent while my husband defends his family and our country.
Rating:
Summary: Bringing up boys
Review: I hoped to read this book and gain a better understanding of the emotional needs of raising a son. What I received was highly offensive material that probably had a place in our moralistic views over 50 years ago, but do not apply in today's age. While I understand that books are strictly opionions expressed on paper, I thought that I might find a more useful tool from this gentleman who holds a Ph.D. I am a mother and I found myself gasping several times during this book - I just could not believe that he had the audacity to write some of these idiacies. To papraphrase one quote, "boys should not act goofy. Woman will not follow a male who displays this characteristic". In closing, I highly sympathize with Dr. Dobson's wife and daughter. I cannot imagine living with someone who has such a narrow perspective. He should not claim to be an expert on the subject of child-rearing.
Rating:
Summary: the 'dr' hates women
Review: I listen to Dr.Dobson's radio program just to see what other
nonsense he might be dishing out to the public.I read the
book and it portrays boys as these strange creatures not at
all like girls in any behavior.In real life we have
overlaping of behavior,not boys one way and girls the
other.How can one help a boy if all the discriptions of
the boys in this book are sterotypical.All boys do not
exhibit the same behaviors.
Furthermore,the book is insulting to single moms,which are viewed as inept to raise a boy.My older sister raised her
son entirely on her own and he didn't join a gang or
become a dope addict!Us women aren't so stupid as to not
be able to raise a boy.The problem is Dr.Dobson doesn't
want boys to have human characteristics,he wants them to have
characteristics of dominating and smothering women with
controll.Seems he thinks this is the only indication of a man
being a 'real man'.A real man is a human being,not a bully
who plays a manly game of domination over the world and women!
Rating:
Summary: Unworthy of a Ph.D.
Review: The best that I can say about this book is that Dr. Dobson appears to very sincere in his desire to help parents raise their boys in modern society. Sincere morals, however, are no excuse for the errors, faulty logic, and outright deception with which this book is riddled. For the sake of brevity, I will discuss only chapter nine, "The Origins of Homosexuality." Most of this chapter would be seriously questioned or rejected by any reputable psychologist or psychiatrist, regardless of what he or she thought about the morality of homosexuals. It is filled with factual errors, apparently deliberate misuse of quoted sources, and the deceptive use of statistics. In his effort to show that homosexuality is not genetic, Dobson misleads his readers by suggesting that all genetic traits are absolute, like hair and eye color. In fact, most mental traits'including sexual orientation'appear to be the result of both genetics and the environment. Dobson's own data suggest this. The author uses a well-known study of homosexuality in identical twins to advance his thesis that homosexuality is not caused by genetic factors. The study found that if one twin is homosexual, there is *only* a 50% chance that the other will also be homosexual. Since liberal estimates of the incidence of homosexuality is less than 10%, this study suggests that one's sexual orientation has a very strong genetic component. Dobson does not deal with the implications of the research he cites, which might include the conclusion that some boys will wind up gay no matter what the parents do. For those boys'and all the others whose parents messed up and made them gay, Dobson has no answer but 'reparative therapy.' Dobson offers no hard evidence that this form of therapy works, or even that it is safe.
Major factual errors in Chapter 9 include Dr. Dobson's completely incorrect use of basic terms from abnormal psychology. He refers to homosexuality as 'gender-identity disorder,' which is a completely different and much rarer condition. Persons with gender-identity disorder feel as if they were born in a body of the wrong gender. They actually wish to live as a member of the opposite sex, and sometimes cross-dress or undergo sex-change operations to make this possible. Homosexuals, in contrast, are usually comfortable with their gender. Dobson's claim that homosexuals can be 'cured' rests in part on gender-identity disorder research that is irrelevant to homosexuality. He might as well argue that because Prozac can relieve the symptoms of depression, it must also be able to cure schizophrenia.
It is difficult for me to understand how anyone with significant training in human psychology'let alone a Ph.D'could make such serious factual errors. Even worse, the author's arguments are often so logically fallacious that one wonders if Dr. Dobson is simply incompetent, or if he just takes his readers for fools. In either case, you should pass this book by.
Rating:
Summary: good book that tells it how it is
Review: I had to read one of the chapters for a psychology paper and ended up reading the entire book. I enjoyed the reading and also found the information usefull for planning a family. Thanks for the the advice Dr. Dobson!
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