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  • Raising Boys in the 21st Century

  • Completely Updated and Revised
  • By: Steve Biddulph
  • Narrated by: Damien Warren-Smith
  • Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (331 ratings)
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Raising Boys in the 21st Century cover art

Raising Boys in the 21st Century

By: Steve Biddulph
Narrated by: Damien Warren-Smith
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Summary

A word-of-mouth best seller which has become one of the best loved and most successful books in the parenting field. With around 20 percent new material, Steve Biddulph’s Raising Boys is to be rereleased this month with some startling new research on what helps - and what harms - boys.

In this expanded and updated edition, Steve Biddulph shares and gives practical and honest advice to parents so they can recognise the different stages of boyhood and learn how to raise happy, confident and kind young men.

Boys need to be parented in a different way from girls, with their own very special psychological and physical makeup. Home, society and education have failed boys badly - and these failures lead to unhappy men who cannot fully become happy, responsible, emotionally confident adults.

While it is essential that boys spend more time learning about manhood from their fathers, Biddulph updates his classic to include helpful information for mothers and single mothers with baby boys.

This extended edition explores some important topics:

  • How ADHD may be caused by stress in the first year of life.
  • Whether boys should start school later than girls.
  • How important it is to let boys cry, and how crying helps avoid violence, suicide, and risky behaviour.

Two completely new stages of boyhood we didn’t know about: 

  • The Full on Fours and the Emotional Eights.
  • Help for single mothers raising sons.
  • How to choose a sport that does more good than harm.
  • What we can do about boys and binge drinking.
  • What science can tell us about teenage boys and driving - and how we can keep our sons safe.

Raising Boys offers parents real-life situations, thought-provoking insights, humour and help.

©2018 Steve Biddulph (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"A mix of Billy Connelly and Dr Spock...Steve Biddulph is a publishing phenomenon." (The Times)

"Steve’s advice is easy to follow - and more importantly, it works." (BBC Family Life Magazine)

"Biddulph...has a built-in feel good factor. Parenting books too often make one fell inadequate, but Biddulph’s left me refreshed and optimistic." (The Express)

What listeners say about Raising Boys in the 21st Century

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Mixed feelings about this book

There were some elements of this book that i found really useful but the fundamental underlying message frustrated me. My son has two mums and no dad and a lot of this book simply says a boy needs a father to be a man which often made me feel isolated. There were some nughets of insight here but unless you are a family with a present mum and dad then i would possibly steer clear.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

a must read for anyone with boys in their life

a great practical set of tools, advice and stories to help you assist the boys you know to grow into fine balanced productive men.

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Constant supplication to single mums

Some good knowledge - terrified of stating the dangers of single mothers on the development of boys. Understandably he doesn't want to disengage his audience - but this losses focus on what should be the child

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

excellent read

the author has a elegant wonderful view and advice! A pleasure to listen to. lots of discussion on genders to which was unexpected but very welcome.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • 11-11-20

Useful book about parenting

As a farther of 2 toddlers (4 & 2 years' old), I found the booking useful and easy to listen to. It raised some relevant aspects for my consideration, which I haven't really paid too much thought previously (e.g. developmental differences in boys & girls, teaching kids about sexual life, importance of external mentors / role models). It also made me reflect on my own childhood and run through some old memories. Loved the narration as well.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Incredibly Helpful

I’m so grateful to Steve Biddulph for writing this book. I’ve found it really illuminating and helpful. I feel more aware and conscious of both myself and my two young boys.
I definitely recommend reading/ listening to this book if you feel as doubtful or confused about parenting your boys as I have been feeling.
Thank you for your insights Steve!

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

a great insight into parenting boys

a very informative and interesting book about parenting boys. i wish I read it a few years ago.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Very informative!

Great book, very informative giving you thinks to think about that you might not have. With 2 boys under the age of 10 I’m glad I read this now!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Useful (not gospel) insight/tips for boys' parents

Useful (but not gospel) insights and tips for parents of boys.

I've read Biddulph before, but not as a parent, and even having studied some child psychology in my degree, without the context of two boys to put learning into, even some rather basic-seeming ideas here felt fresh.

From baby and toddler tips all the way through to the tricky years of adolescence and preparing young men for independence and relationships, Biddulph has updated his older edition with contemporary references and thoughts.

Not all of it worked for me - I felt one comment on selecting suitable youth groups/clubs that don't contain adults who may want to abuse them (not a direct quote but this was the general feel of it) was alarmist and not at all helpful.

This was a good listen - it worked mostly as an audiobook with a calm and personable narrator who kept the tone chatty. What didn't work was the lack of chapter headings and any reference to contents in the Audible files, just 'chapter 1' etc. If I wanted to refer back to certain chapters, for example when my oldest reaches teenage years, I'll have to trawl through or find a paper copy to find the relevant sections.

I was of course most interested in the chapters concerning the ages of my sons presently, and did pick up a lot of useful suggestions as to how to improve our relationships, things I can do with them to encourage their curiosity and independence. But I did also like the sections on those years we have ahead of us, and how each stage of development could be said to be split from the others and why.

I have even sent a copy of this to my husband to listen to, and he's started it, though I have yet to hear his thoughts.

An interesting short introduction into the parenting of young men, though I did feel it was brief and would want to look into these ideas in more detail.

I would recommend the Audible version, it's easy to follow, but the lack of referencing/indexing (publisher - take note!) is a definite drawback.

With thanks to Nudge Books for providing a sample Audible copy.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Excelent book

I recommended this book to every parent or teacher. I feel I understand better my son after finishing this book and I know better what is my job as a mom.

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