Customer Reviews
Elaine's "Raising Cain" book review 
2008-05-14
Every parent, teacher, youth sports coach, and general public who interact with boys should read this book. After reading it, discuss with others who read it. Women, ask questions with trusted male friends.
A Must Read 
2008-03-07
This is an insightful look into the male mind. My homeschool group is reading/discussing it right now and it has been eye opening to say the least. Although it has been painful to the point that most of the men in our group would not read it, it has still been a great tool in trying to understand our boys and men. I recommend this for reading to anyone who has a boy in their life.
Raising a son 2008-02-17
A big support to re-convince you that teaching emotions and love to your son is a bigger asset than teaching how to fight.
Good to know that it will pay off when he is older, as a happy man.
raising cane 
2008-01-04
This book is not quite what I expected. I was somewhat disappointed in the content.
Must read... and you won't be able to put it down! 2007-12-30
This is the best book I've seen about raising boys. My husband and I both have read every single page -- it's the first parenting book we've ever really read together, and we've talked about all of it. My husband felt like he was reading about all the secret struggles he went through as a child too. This is the first book that's made me want to change the way I parent...
a must read 2007-11-04
In Raising Cain, Dan Kindlon, Ph.D., and Michael Thompson, Ph.D., two of the country's leading child psychologists, share what they have learned in more than thirty-five years of combined experience working with boys and their families. They reveal a nation of boys who are hurting--sad, afraid, angry, and silent. Kindlon and Thompson set out to answer this basic, crucial question: What do boys need that they're not getting? They illuminate the forces that threaten our boys, teaching them to believe that "cool" equals macho strength and stoicism. Cutting through outdated theories of "mother blame," "boy biology," and "testosterone," the authors shed light on the destructive emotional training our boys receive--the emotional miseducation of boys.
Kindlon and Thompson make a compelling case that emotional literacy is the most valuable gift we can offer our sons, urging parents to recognize the price boys pay when we hold them to an impossible standard of manhood. They identify the social and emotional challenges that boys encounter in school and show how parents can help boys cultivate emotional awareness and empathy--giving them the vital connections and support they need to navigate the social pressures of youth.
Not so great for parents, maybe good for professional counselors and such 2007-03-24
This book contains a lot of psycho babble. It seems to be written mostly for professional family counselors and psychologists and such. For them it might be useful, but if you're a "normal" parent (meaning not working in such a field) then there are better parenting books out there that are much less opaque.
good book for people who are not psychologists 2007-03-12
This book helped me understand the boys and men in my life a bit better. It wasn't filled with too much technical jargon and had many stories from the authors than helped illustrate their points.
Strong by Gender: The missing factor of Nurture 2007-03-01
The title of this book says a monumental truth.
In virtually all societies, throughout time, BOYS are raised to be strong, and any variance of that is "A Problem". The Problem, however, is strongly rooted in the society a boy is raised. There is no common factor other than the basic issue that BOYS become MEN, and MEN RULE THE WORLD.
Thustly boys are, in virtually all societies, ethnic and religious, economic and existential, boys are generally drained of their "emotional body" as they grow, and by the age which their social realm dictates, are honed into the male image of the culture they are raised.
Far too many boys, over all the world, in all situations, are neglected EMOTIONALLY as they grow up, resulting in strong men who make up the warriors, regardless of their eventual position and place in life.
It is all too common that the basic emotional needs of young boys are neglected, even refused, often brutally, in an effort to "make them strong". It's been going on since the dawn of time.
As society fragments into far more complex expressions for both male and female role-models, something that has been changing since the Rennaissance, boys, despite their diversification in potential, have generally been either brutalized into uniformity, or segmented, eventually compartementalized into roles dictated by local moral, religious or financial revenues.
"Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys" tackles an age-old problem with great insight, and while there are no common solutions, there are ways of thinking that can help raise boys in a way that is "Complete".
An honest look at how we treat boys 2006-12-27
You might read the back cover of this book and think, "oh, this doesn't apply to me.". But anyone parenting or spending time with children should have a look. It helps you (or rather, it's helping me) step back and realize how subtle ways that we interact with children have lasting repercussions. For instance, how we might respond to a boy when he says "oh look, that kid over there is crying" vs. our response to a girl. Studies show that we'd steer the boy away, distract him, move on to something different. But to a girl, we encourage her to help, to be sympathetic, and engage in a discussion about what happened.
Towards the end, the authors offer some suggestions on how to tap into the emotional side of our boys, how to develop modes of communication that can last through adolescent years and into adult hood. I find them useful, and hope that my husband and I are & continue to use them.
