Book Review: Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys

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As far as school goes we speak a lot in the book that the compulsory model
we use for schooling in the United States is generally well-suited to a girl’s
learning style. It’s heavy on verbal and written expression, two particular
areas of strength for most girls. It involves a good deal of sitting still for
extended periods of time with mostly auditory instruction. These methods don’t
match a boy’s way of learning or draw on his learning strengths.

That was all I had to read, on Blissfully Domestic’s homeschool channel, to be immediately intrigued by the book Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys. When I found that it was a book, written by authors, therapists and dads Stephen James and David Thomas, for the parents, mentors and teachers of boys, I knew that I had to get my hands on a copy. As the home educating mother to my son, I am, at one time or another, all of those things to him. So, I was thrilled beyond words to be given the opportunity to review the book for Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. Except, well, you know, I usually find the words.

I loved it! I think I’ve confessed before to often having difficulty finishing non-fiction books, being, as I am, a huge fan of historical fiction. That was not at all the case with Wild Things. In fact, this was the first book of its genre that had me saying, “Just one more chapter, then, I’ll go to sleep.”

From the first page, I was impressed with the conversational style of the authors. It was like sitting down over a glass of sweet tea (what else?) and discussing my son with a family friend. This book literally made me laugh out loud and, moments later, cry as I saw my son through new eyes. One thing I loved best about Wild Things were the concrete examples the authors gave to illustrate their key points. That’s very important to me. I don’t like vague references to an idea; I need examples. There are stories –either from the authors’ lives, from their counseling practices, or from books or movies — that clearly illustrate the points being made.

In the introduction, the authors write, “Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher, writes, ‘Of all animals, the boy is the most unmanageable, inasmuch as he has the fountain of reason in him not yet regulated.”

You can say that again! Yet Wild Things is not about taming boys, it is about celebrating their passionate spirit, their imagination, and their hunger for adventure. It’s about coming alongside our boys and guiding them along their journey to manhood. With the sense of humor that is evident throughout the book, we are cautioned that “whenever boys are in the equation, you may have to broaden your definition of normal. (This is especially true for women.)” Parents are also reminded, however, that while “boys will be boys,” parents should be parents.

In Wild Things, you’ll look at The Way of a Boy, which will give the parent insight into the developmental make-up of a boy (including the one whom the female readers might find themselves married!). The Mind of a Boy looks at areas of great interest to the educator: brain development and learning styles. Finally, The Heart of a Boy looks at the emotional, spiritual and moral development of a boy.

Even for those of us who are home educators, it is often a fact that we have been brought up with the traditional educational system as our model. Authors Stephen James and David Thomas offer some of the reasons how and why today’s educational system is often failing our boys and discover some tips to overcome that, saying:

The model of education that has been in place for the past one hundred years
or so is known as compulsory schooling. If you do some research into the history
of education, you will find that the compulsory model was birthed out of the
Industrial Revolution. The academic calendar, and the very structure of school
(length of day, amount of time spent in class, etc.) were designed as a means of
fashioning great factory workers, not students. They were not designed with the
cognitive and emotional development of kids in mind. And they certainly weren’t
designed to correlate with the developing brains of boys.

Wild Things offers practical, timely, relevant tips on raising boys. Each chapter ends with a “Putting the Principals into Practice” section, which offers concrete tips on how the reader can apply the principals learned in the previous chapter. The book ends with a “Hot Topics” section that tackles the tough questions that parents often hate to ask. And, while the book’s main focus is parenting boys, you’ll find that it’s full of good, solid parenting advice that will apply to each of your children, regardless of their gender.

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Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.

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62 Comments

  2. Please enter me in your giveaway. I have 2 adorable, wonderful boys (in addition to 3 darling girls!)

    Reply

  9. This sounds liek a book I need,I have 2 boys myself(2 girls,but that is another story,lol).Count me in:)
    tmw1223 at gmail dot com

    Reply

  11. I am commenting to enter (1 entry). I also have you linked to my blog through the blogger blog roll, but I do not have your button on my blog. (2 entries?). AND I am already subscribed to you through my RSS reader (3 entries??) 🙂

    Reply

  13. I would love to win and read this book!

    I’ve been subscribed to your blog via google reader for months now.

    terri at hanenkamp dot com

    Reply

  15. Oooh, I would love to get my hands on that book!! I have one 9 year old son that I could definitely use some help understanding!! I’m also expecting, so there’s a 50/50 chance of having another boy!! Thanks so much.

    Jamie7987 at AOL dot com

    Reply

  16. i should just run out and get this book now. my poor son is surrounded by girls all day, what a way to show him how much i care for him by catering to his learning needs.

    (already a follower!)

    Reply

  17. You’re all linked up to my Blog. Don’t know what your policy is on international postage is though! This book sounds like it’s about my boys.

    Reply

  18. Hi, Just found you and am loving your blog! I have 3 boys and would love to read this book

    kathy (at) kathalog (dot) com

    I’m heading back to subscribe now

    Reply

  21. Okay, I have to have this. So, I’m subscribed through Google Reader (1), I am commenting (2), and I’ll write an entry about this on my blog (3). Right now. Since I haven’t posted in like two weeks, that is good motivation to get over there and write!

    Reply

  24. SORRY! When I read the original entry it said to leave one comment, so that is what I did! 🙂 Here is my second entry for the linked blog! 😀

    Reply

  26. To make things easier for your give away, I’m amending my previous comment into three separate entries. Consider this number 2 🙂 My Google Reader loves you.

    Reply

  28. just “following” orders! 😉 thanks for emailing.. i’ll be back when i post a link on saturday too!

    Reply

  36. I love the idea of this book and would love to read it…
    I was a little nervous to come to your blog, thinking that it was another jab at homeschoolers and how wierd they are…I was PLEASANTLY SURPRISED and excited about this book!
    [email protected]

    Reply

  37. Okay…a subscriber now…I am loving the look of this site and sometimes we homeschoolers need all the support we can get, because we are weird and unsocialized!
    C~

    Reply

  39. I would love to read this! My son is old enough to start kindergarten next year, and while I do have him signed up at the moment, I’m SO unsure about the decision, since I see so much of his father (stubborn and energetic, bright and caring)in him. I want to make sure he grows up loving to learn, and that school isn’t going to prevent that. :-/

    Reply

  49. The title of your blog alone keeps me coming back, just LOVE the name. This book sounds awesome. Although I’m not girly, I “get” my daughter so much more. I’m always looking for insight on how to encourage my wild-in-every-way boy without stifling his spirit. That’s the million $ question….coodohs(at)yahoo(dot)com.

    Reply

  52. I’ve slowly been hearing for years about how we’ve addressed girls’ math and science scores over the years, and yet very little about how we address boys’ language arts scores.

    Why is it okay to say “Well, boys just aren’t as good at that (writing/reading)” but not the other way around?

    I am SO happy to see that people are really starting to address this. My kids have been different since before they were born, I can’t imagine trying to teach both of them the same way and expecting the same results!

    Thanks for the awesome giveaway!

    leig hbra at gmail com (sorry about it being broken up, ick spam!)

    Reply

  56. I guess I barely got in on this huh? I would really like to win this though. Thanks for the chance.

    Reply

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