(Note: my interview with Dr. James Dobson’s “Family Talk” will air on Monday, March 11, here on AFR at 6:30 am Central. You can find a station in your area by going here: Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk - Find a Local Station)
The gravest challenge our culture faces today is a crisis of masculinity. The American Psychological Association has labeled traditional masculinity - strength, aggression, and stoicism - as something “toxic.” The APA is saying that our problem in America is with traditional American masculinity. But the problem is not that there is too much masculinity in America, it’s that there’s not enough. An absence of biblical masculinity, which is simply men using their strength to lead, protect, and provide, has produced far too many homes which are fragmented and broken, leaving spouses abandoned and children to fend for themselves.
The problem is massive and overwhelming. What can we do? I believe the solution is found in dads mentoring their young sons to become mature, masculine men so they may be leaders, protectors, and providers for their families.
Government schools aren’t getting the job done - they abandoned long ago any pretense of character education. Many churches seem more interested in entertaining teenagers than educating them. And the fathers in many families would like to get the job done with their boys but aren’t sure how to do it.
You may be one of those dads, living with this nagging apprehension that you should do more with your son to grow him to maturity, but just not sure how to go about it.
Well, if you are a father of a young son, I’ve written a book just for you. It’s entitled “The Boy to Man Book,” and is designed to give you as a father a user-friendly tool to mentor your 12-year-old son.
Reading the book of Proverbs a number of years ago, I was struck with the fact that 23 times in the book of Proverbs Solomon addresses what he is writing to “my son.” The book contains all the essential wisdom Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, wanted his growing son to learn on his way to manhood.
This wisdom is still essential today for us to impart to our sons. What I’ve done in this book is made an effort to distill the wisdom of Solomon into 24 chapters which you can read to and with your son. At the end of each chapter is a prayer that you can pray over your son, to lodge the wisdom of God in his young life.
There are chapters on the critical importance of choosing friends wisely, handling money, and developing the kind of work ethic that will make for a productive career. But there are also chapters that give a young son guidance on the critical importance of building a relationship with God and developing unshakable confidence in his Word. On the way, he’ll learn how far he can go on a date, how to deal with pornography, how he can stay out of sexual trouble, and how to recognize the woman he should marry.
I also talk about the importance of refusing to quit, learning to stand alone, controlling anger, and handling booze and drugs. We talk about finding God’s will for his life and there is even a chapter on how he should think about politics.
Five thousand young boys turn 12 every day in America. Five thousand boys who need to know what Solomon knew about life. If we could get this book, or something like it, into the hands of every father of every 12-year-old boy in America, these young males would have in their hearts the wisdom that is necessary to turn each of them from a boy into a man.
As they go through high school and then college and then enter the workforce with these truths in their hearts, America can quickly become a much different and a much better place.
If you are the father of a young son, I’d encourage you to get this book. If you know someone who has a young son, I urge you to get this book for him. You might even think about picking up several books so if you run into a father with a young son, you can give him one. If you work in youth ministry, think about giving a copy of this book to the father of every son in your youth group on his son’s 12th birthday. As Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, says in his endorsement, “Dads, if you’ve got a young son, you can’t go wrong with this book!”
Reclaiming America’s lost manhood is a huge job. Maybe we can get the job done one 12-year-old boy at a time.
(Click HERE to get your copy of the book)
