What a load of codswallop and a large waste of money. I do agree that men should be the leaders in teaching our boys how to be men. However Celia over labours the point and seems fixated on the concept that everything that is wrong with boys and malehood in particulary is singularly the fault of middle class, white women, specifically mothers. She is at the polar extreme to feminazis (which have a lot to answer for). This book also provides no answers, no practical advice and is full of social worker speak. Dont waste ya cash. if you want a worth while book - go grab youself a copy of Nigel Latta's "Before your teenagers drive you crazy - read this"

This book is all I hoped it would be,The writter sure knows her boys, This is a great resource book for parwents of teenage boys.

Brilliant book, especially for the single mum raising a boy. The author has really done her research. There are some very funny parts in this thanks to the quotes from the boys. This is helpful and heart warming, it will help parents of teenage boys know theyre not alone, and know that it will get better. A must have for any parent with sons, this one will be a favourite in no time

A very insighful, easy to read, book about a study on how the minds of young boys work and it also explained some things that even as a grown man I still do.
Every parent, teacher and especially mothers of boys should read this.

This book is full of unsubstantiated evidence and makes all sorts of claims with no real evidence -just her opinion. She has a real chip on her shoulder about middle class women!!

This is one of the best books I have read. Having worked in a similar field to Celia Lashlie, her research into this area is excellent and this book is written in such a way that if you have ever heard her speak, you can imagine her reading this to you. She has an excellent understanding of boys having worked in the prison system and later within education. It is an easy book to understand and most parents would get some sense of comfort in knowing how to deal with boys who are growing so fast.

This is a great book, and the author has really done her research. There are some very funny parts in this thanks to the quotes from the boys. This is helpful and heart warming, it will help parents of teenage boys know theyre not alone, and know that it will get better. A must have for any parent with sons, this one will be a favourite in no time

While Celia has experience with teenage boys and men, and she's written what she knows, her claims and "information" seem to be based on nothing more than her own opinions. While she's all about young men needing positive role models (which is good, sensible advice, IMHO), she then goes on to demonise womens' involvement with young men, conveniently failing to mention that oftentimes the REASON the "care and feeding of young men" has been left to women is because of sexist standards of society which say that parenthood isn't really a man's job.

She also makes some incredibly generalised comments about the young men themselves and their behaviours and attitudes. Maybe from her environment, she's used to dealing with boys and young men as a collective group rather than individuals, but from my own experience, both as a parent and as a youth worker, boys and young men are as varied a group as any other group of people. Stereotyping them only leads to stupid and ill-thought-out perceptions of them, not to mention, it encourages young men who don't fit the model to be ostracised-- and possibly fall into dangerous behaviour as a result of feeling like they are misunderstood and don't fit in anywhere.

Her attitude towards sexuality issues alarmed me and seemed deeply conservative and uncomfortable with the subject. I wouldn't go recommending this book to PFLAG parents.


In short, this book is probably fantastic if you're completely clueless about teenage boys and want a quick sum up of the stereotypical kid, but if your son doesn't fit the mold and you're after something more specialised, I'd suggest giving this one a miss.


All that said, as others have noted, some of the quotes from the kids themselves in here are gold: definitely the high point from my POV.