“Maggie is earthy and real, full of love and knowledge, especially on raising sons.”

– Steve Biddulph, author of Raising Boys in the 21st Century

 

“Maggie’s perspective on raising boys is spot on.  She writes with humor and depth, providing insight and strategies for many of the most important issues facing moms. There is a lovely ease to her writing and a powerful honesty. I hope every mother of a son (and everyone else!) will read this book. The future of the world, to a great extent, depends on how we raise our boys.”

— Michael Gurian, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Wonder of Boys and Saving Our Sons

**2020 update. If you are raising boys in the tween/teen years, please check out Maggie’s new book, From Boys to Men: Guiding our teen boys to grow into happy, healthy men out 25th August 2020.**

If we can see the world through boys’ eyes a little better, we will make different choices in the way we mother them… and we will find them less confusing, and love them more deeply.

Mothers of sons are worried about raising their boys in a world where negative images of masculinity are front and centre of our media, almost every day. Not only that, but statistically our boys are still struggling in many ways.

Even though we live in a time where we recognise that nothing in gender is fixed, it remains a fact that the influence of a mother on her son is massive.

A mother of four sons herself, Maggie Dent draws on her personal experience – and over four decades work as a teacher, counsellor and now author and speaker – to help build understanding, empathy and compassion for our boys.

Maggie shares her five key secrets that every mum needs to know, and uses the voices of men she has worked with and surveyed to reveal what really matters in a boy’s relationship with his mother and other mother figures.

Maggie is one of Australia’s most popular parenting educators and her seminars about boys have sold out all across Australia and in the UK. She is finally sharing her insights, her reflections, and (as always) her humour around mothering boys in this book that will help you be the mum your son needs you to be.

 

“This book is a precious gift to mothers of boys, filled with insights, inspiration, and practical suggestions for allowing our sons to loved and celebrated for who they are. I loved it and have already been recommending it to my clients and parent community. Thank you, Maggie, for sharing your wisdom with such love and clarity!”

— Susan Stiffelman (MFT), Family therapist and author ofParenting Without Power Struggles and Parenting With Presence

Book contents

  • Background
  • Author’s Note
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1 Gender explored
  • Chapter 2 Understanding the main biological drivers of modern-day cave men and cave women
  • Chapter 3 Boys are not tough, especially little ones
  • Chapter 4 Transitioning little boys from home to care and then to big school
  • Chapter 5 Some more interesting things about boys
  • Chapter 6 Helping our boys to become good friends
  • Chapter 7 Mothering rooster sons and lamb sons
  • Chapter 8 Mummy, do you love me?
  • Chapter 9 Movement and play for our little warriors
  • Chapter 10 When boys muck up
  • Chapter 11 Stop hitting, hurting and shaming our boys
  • Chapter 12 Avoiding the mother wound
  • Chapter 13 Helping boys understand loss and death
  • Chapter 14 A good dog can help raise boys who care more
  • Chapter 15 Fun, food and farts
  • Chapter 16 Building character in our boys
  • Chapter 17 Sons and love, healthy sexuality and relationships
  • Chapter 18 Five secrets I have learnt about mothering sons
  • Chapter 19 Letting them go on the bumpy ride to adulthood
  • Conclusion
  • And a final word from the men
  • Notes
  • References & recommended reading
  • Index
  • Acknowledgements