Rating: 
Summary: The best educational book I have read
Review: As parents of six children we have read so many books on family and education, we have gone back to the university to take courses on family life, on moral upbringing, on how to bring up your children to be happy, independent adults. This book has it all. Dr Dobson really did some great research!! If you are raising a boy you want to read this book!!!
Rating:
Summary: Pushing back against the trends to androgyny.
Review: Dobson's book hit many of the niggling concerns that I have about the Western, particularly US based, trend towards denial that boys are indeed different from girls, denial that masculinity can indeed be a force for good (rather than the constant and often covert/subliminal undermining of everything male - apart from male homosexuality of course!) and reading his book gave me an awareness of just how the masculinity of our youth is being diluted and demonised.
Some reviewers attack Dobson's Christianity as a means to attack the principle messages within the book. However, many similar themes and concerns are raised in the Tammy Bruce's "New Thought Police" - and she is a lesbian former senior member of NOW. The principles - and guidance - laid out in the book are valuable and certainly worthy of serious consideration.
Whether you are a Christian or not, this book is thought provoking for any parent of young boys. While the reader may, after consideration reject some of the views of the author, I believe that many will be accepted and may in fact assist you in bringing up better men for our society. And if this is the only achievement of this book, who can knock that?
For me, I will re-read it year after year as part, and only part, of the process of bringing up children within my own family.
Buy! (or borrow)
Rating: 
Summary: Good book on raising boys, a subject seldom discussed
Review: ... Dobson does just call homosexuality a disorder: he documents why he believes this to be true. And there are a substantial number of phychiatrists and psychologists who believe similarly. Dobson quotes the original APA votes from the early 70s to show that even at that time, there was nothing like unanimous agreement within the psychiatric/psychological establishment. Since then, little has changed in the realm of science: only public opinion has changed, influenced by ...the media.About the book, it is generally a very thoughtful discussion of the special attention that bringing up boys requires. Now, everybody (including Dobson, right in the forward) admits that bringing up girls have special problems too. Dobson wrote the book because the problems of bringing up boys are seldom discussed or even admitted to exist. Another point is that Dobson is a very compassionate person. Whether he has an "agenda" or not, anybody who reads much that Dobson writes knows that he has a great deal of love and compassion for those he writes about, even for those who he disagrees with. (Would that certain book reviewers would have the same compassion.) He really does love the people he's talking about, and that love comes through in his books. "Hating the sin but loving the sinner" is not just possible, Dobson practices it. If I have a negative comment about the book, it's that Dobson does not give much coverage to the boys who do not fit the typical "boy mold." He mentions several times that not all boys are the rough-and-tumble type of boy, that quieter or more sensitive boys were made that way by God just as much as the prototypical boy was, and God can use them all to His glory. And I believe that he believes this sincerely. But it seems almost like an add-on to the rest of the text that's not really explored as much as it could be. I think some people who have boys that do not fit the typical mold will end up feeling discouraged when their son doesn't match up to the type described again and again. But overall, it's an excellent book that gives practical tips to loving parents, grandparents, and friends.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent resource - for Christians and Non-Christians!
Review: To say that this book is right-winged fundamentalist Christianity, is as unfair as saying those who label it as such are extreme feminists/homosexuals who promote current propaganda that there are no such things as gender differences. Dobson gives excellent advice AND scientific evidence to prove what most intelligent and critically thinking parents already know: boys are wired differently than girls. He gives ample evidence about the current media trends that do their best to emasculate our young boys and confuse their direction. And he further points out that what IS available to young boys and men right now is terribly violent and masochistic. He disclaims all his personal views about the need for women to stay at home and raise their children by explaining that he understands many women cannot do this. And it's no wonder to me, why so many women, myself included, cannot stay at home with their children - because in the 70's, feminists called women out of their homes and into the workforce causing inflation and a huge shift in the economy. I have a three month old and I just had to go back to work this week because I need to contribute to our housepayment. If more people subscribed to Dobson's beliefs we wouldn't have a male-dominated, female oppressed society as some would like to believe - but rather we would have women at home during the important years of our children's lives, which would prevent a great deal of most of the societal woes plaguing our country. Do the research yourself if you don't believe Dobson. And pray to God everyday that your children don't fall prey to any boy or girl whose unsupervised habits, haved turned into acts of hate.
Rating:
Summary: I never thought I'd see the day!
Review: When I was in my early teens, my parents gave me a book to read by Dr. Dobson called Preparing for Adolescence. I hated it. Lo and behold, those same parents recently gave me a copy of Bringing up Boys, as I am now the father of two young boys. Needless to say, I was very impressed by what the good doctor had to say. Dr. Dobson has the guts to tell it like it is in regards to the dire situation that our boys are facing in school and in society. Some of what he wrote was new to me, but a fair amount echoed my own beliefs and observations about the moral decay permeating our society. This didn't detract from the book at all. In fact, despite the somewhat depressing subject matter, the book is a page-turner and very easy to read. Depressing in that the society and educational system that my boys will grow up bears little resemblance to the one that that I was raised in and the safeguards that were in place only 50 years ago have all but vanished. Anyone with small children, especially boys, should read this book.
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Summary: Special needs
Review: This book ackowledges the obvious: genders ARE different and each requires special attention with particular needs. This book focuses on the needs of boys. It seems to be the junior version of Wild at Heart and would read well along side The Power of a Praying Wife. I also enjoyed THE PRAYER OF HANNAH by Kenn Gividen.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent advice
Review: The end result of raising a boy should be to produce a respectful, hard-working, God-fearing, loving, merciful, and generally fearless MAN! Dr. Dobson has helped me to understand my little fireball a bit more. I have a sister; my friends had sisters (for the most part); my Dad had specifically prayed for girls. My son is a constant amazement to me, though my husband and father keep saying, "Boys just do that stuff". Child Psychologist James Dobson points out why "boys just do that stuff" and help the occassionally bewildered or aggravated parent to remember that boys are different, and unlike many forces in our country, he reminds us that this is wonderful. Just as I instinctively treat our older daughter in a way that fits her personality and feminity because that is something that I understand, I have been learning to treat our son in a way that fits his personality and masculinity, which sometimes befuddles me! Dobson's series on boys was very helpful.
Rating: 
Summary: Not parenting, just religious extremism.
Review: If you're the kind of reader who stays pretty informed on issues of child raising, psychology, and medical research, you'll find this book, frankly, shocking. It's hard to believe any doctor could be so out-of-touch with the last 30 years of collected knowledge about children, parenting techniques and sexuality. There are far too many mistakes, incorrect assumptions, and downright meanspirited prejudice in this book to list, so perhaps the best description is to say that it has very little fact or advice, and lots of right-wing agendas and Bible-quoting. The combination of ignorance and animosity that this writer has against anyone who doesn't march to his brand of Christian fundamentalism -- working women, feminists, all women, gays, boys who aren't interested in his little-Christian-soldier mold -- is downright appalling. I was given this book as a gift from a well-meaning, but not very informed friend, and I felt as if I was reading a sermon from some Southern preacher in the 1950s. I'm not sure whether I should tell her, or just never mention it, but I don't want to allow her to further embarass herself by giving this book to anyone else. In fact, it probably should not be listed under "Parenting", but under "Religious Extremism". There are much better books that don't attempt to trap boys (or their parents) into the author's rigid, anachronistic and long-discredited beliefs.
Rating:
Summary: Long Overdue!
Review: We're living in a time when boy bashing & bullying is so acceptable...almost applauded by some. This book offers positive direction for us parents who are raising boys and have encountered the struggles and battles Dr. Dobson so eloqently addresses. Not only are the chapter topics relevant and practical...Dr. Dobson is very gifted in his explanations and carefully shows the reader just exactly what he's talking about with precise examples. Based on how many men versus women are in prison...the value of this book really delivers. I disagree with katemch's review.....there's no bible bashing here....just a sincere attempt to help people raising sons raise them with principle and purpose in a society that's gotten so far off track.
Rating:
Summary: Right-winger Dobson does it again!
Review: I always have to chuckle when I see reviews of Dr. Dobson's books, or any other Christian writer who has something to say about raising children. I noticed right away the first two reviews on Amazon were from critics bashing Dobson for his stance on homosexuality, and femminism.
I am a single mother of a thirteen year old boy. I have read, and followed Dare to Discipline and Parenting with Love and Logic. Both books written by authors who have raised wonderfully successful and vibrant kids. Do I want advice from someone who hasn't raised such children? Absolutely not. When you need help understanding your teens, you go to people who have "been there done that" ....successfully I might add.
Do you take your car to the best mechanic in town, or the fly by night monkey with a wrench? Let the record show that our society has listened to so called child experts for years, what have we gained? Look around you.
Dr. Dobson hits the nail on the head the first time.
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