Dave Meurer: Boyhood Daze

Today I finished reading Boyhood Daze: An Incomplete Guide to Raising Boys, by Dave Meurer. This guy is funny, makes sense, and has taught me a lot I didn't know about boys. Having raised two of his own, Mark & Brad, I easily fell into thinking he could be a pretty good advisor to me as I parent my boys. I'm not disappointed. There are hilarious and poignant matters to be found on page after page, but I think the chapter that tilted the book from quirky to essential, for me, was number 11. It's titled Your Boys-Are They Truly Clueless or Just Ignoring You?, and begins with this paragraph: "A huge portion of your son's life will consist of your supplying him with detailed information that he will not understand, but that you will think he understands because he will nod as you speak to him and even repeat back to you verbatim everything you said while never understanding a word of it." I've witnessed this phenomenon first hand, and now I know it's a common deficiency among boys. But just about the time I was ready to roll my eyes and shake my head with the understanding that "boys will be boys", I came across these two sentences: "Basically, all men are ten-year-olds who are trapped in adult bodies. We may seem mature, but it is only because we have facial hair and deep voices and pretty much run the Senate." Yeah, I think I found out as much about myself in reading this book as I have about my boys. Maybe that was the author's intent, come to think of it. Of the books I've read on parenting, this one has to rank up there in the "required reading" section of my recommendations to parents of boys.