Movies are notorious for promoting stereotypic views of masculinity and femininity. How about settling down with your kids to watch some movies that go against gender stereotypes (and encourage more well rounded expressions of maleness and femaleness). Spider Man 3 (PG-13) Feminine Masculine. All of the spider man movies feature a hero that is moral, sensitive, gentle and a bit …
Family Time Movie Theater: Teenage Boys and Dating
Finding good movie role models for teenage boys in dating relationships is not easy. There is so much emphasis on the strict adherence to guy rules (which are bad for emotionally intimate relationships), the overly romanticized characterizations of boys and girls who don’t expect much from their boyfriends. Here are some movies with better guy role models. Pretty in Pink …
How To Get Your Teenage Boy To Open Up
Everybody knows boys are just not talkers. Boys brains are wired differently when it comes to language and emotion. Boys are doers not thinkers. Boys are naturally better at math and visual spatial tasks. Well. Actually, these “facts” are myths. Most differences between boys and girls appear to be more about how they are raised than how they were born. …
Emotional Intimacy: Some Things Your Son Needs To Know
There are a lot of ways teenagers can learn about healthy romantic relationships. Most media representations are focused on titillation and sexual licentiousness. Romance in movies is mostly characterized by idealization, infatuation, lust and one dimensional people (think Twilight, The Hangover, Iron Man, Spider man and 300). Relationships in music lyrics emphasize hedonism, sexism, the objectification of women (and men) …
Back to School: What’s different for boys about school?
Another school year is getting underway and parents are thinking ahead about how to make this year a success for their kids. Parents of boys should be particularly attentive. Boys are not doing so well academically these days compared to girls. School age boys represent 71% of suspensions and drop out of school at 4 times the rate of girls. …