Product Review for Raising Real Men

As a member of the blogger review team for Timberdoodle, I have the wonderful opportunity to occasionally review a new product they are offering for sale. In exchange for my honest review, I got a free copy of the book Raising Real Men. From the moment I saw the title, my curiosity was peaked. I have a six year old son, and as any mother of boys can tell you, there is definite challenges to raising boys. I grew up in a family of 5 girls, with a father who wasn't home much due to business travel. The only male in our home most of the time was the dog. LOL! So, a book like this seemed just the answer for me.

While life is busy now that homeschool is underway, I have been grabbing this book to read a chapter whenever time permits. Can I just say that in the first few chapters I have had an eye opener into the world of boys as God created them? In the day in which we live, we seem to freak out when boys want to fight and wrestle, or are really loud and bossy. But as this book explains, this is what boys are made of. They are designed to be protectors, providers and leaders. God didn't make them this way to lord it over women, but to love and serve them as a protector and friend.

One of the many things I have learned in this book is the vital need to channel all this amazing energy and strength in boys into good things. Boys need to be free to wrestle and run, but simply need boundaries for not letting things get out of hand. It will be my constant job as a mom to keep reinforcing these rules.But I am sure you would agree, the end product is worth it all.

Another great thing that I learned from reading Raising Real Men is the vital importance of a father in the life of his children. It is so important to raise my son to be a good father. Even those of you who find yourself in a situation where you are raising your boy solo, can find those powerful father figures to be a part of your son's life. Things like Youth Groups, Scouts, Awanas, mentoring programs, community service projects and more, can all provide much needed guidance for your little man.

I would say, of all I have learned reading this book, the most important area where I was lacking, was giving more responsibility to my son. Stories shared by Melanie and Hal about young men like David Farragut, who commanded a captured enemy ship at the age of 12 and even squashed a rebellion lead by the captured captain, show the amazing things that even young men can do when given the right guidance and training. I really found that I had been robbing not only my son, but my daughter of the responsibilities I should be giving them and am seeking to change this. 

Hal and Melanie Young have been very real and open in this book and have given me practical insight into the world of boys. I am so glad to have found this book while my son is still young. I am sure I will be reading it more than once to absorb it all. I would highly recommend it to any parents of boys. Timberdoodle has other boy-friendly learning items you can find on their website as well. I am so glad I got to read this book.