Category Archives: Uncategorized

Family Personality Types



What’s your family personality?  Don’t know? You’re not alone. Most people don’t think of families as having personalities, but when you understand your personality, your partner’s personality and your kids’ personalities, life gets easier. Sandra Etherington, a family personality practitioner, uses the Myers-Briggs assessment to help families improve communication and collaboration. “The assessment measures tendencies … Continue reading Family Personality Types


Best of 2020: ON BOYS Year in Review



The phrase “best of 2020” is a bit laughable.  Using the term “best” to describe a year that’s included a global pandemic, remote schooling and massive disruptions to work and socialization seems almost…inappropriate. And yet, even 2020 had some bright spots. ON BOYS audience continued to grow. Our downloads increased by 207%. (We had nearly … Continue reading Best of 2020: ON BOYS Year in Review


School & Learning in the COVID-19 Era



How’s school going?  That’s a fraught question even when there’s NOT a pandemic going on. Now, it seems almost crazy to ask, given that most of us are dealing w less-than-ideal educational situations.  But that doesn’t mean you have to settle for miserable. If virtual school or online learning isn’t working for you, homeschool may … Continue reading School & Learning in the COVID-19 Era


Family Meetings & The 9-Year Change



Family meetings can you help adapt your parenting to fit the changing needs of your family.  One of the most challenging (and demoralizing) aspects of parenting is realizing that you must constantly revise your parenting strategies. The tips, techniques and discipline strategies that worked so well when your little boy was 2 don’t work at … Continue reading Family Meetings & The 9-Year Change


Listener Q & A – Parenting Teen Boys



Parenting teen boys is not easy. They’re bigger than us. Stronger than us. They speak in a language we don’t necessarily understand — if they choose to speak at all. Their focus is turning outward, just as we parents realize how little time we have left to teach them all the things they need to … Continue reading Listener Q & A – Parenting Teen Boys


Preparing Boys for the World of Work



One of our most important jobs as parents is preparing our boys for the world of work. The work world, though, has changed dramatically over the last few decades. “There’s been a shift from the competitive dog-eat-dog/rat race to a flatter, faster and fairness-focused world of work,” says Ed Frauenheim, co-author of Reinventing Masculinity: The … Continue reading Preparing Boys for the World of Work


Teach Boys Money Management



How do you teach boys money management? 34% of American teenagers don’t have bank accounts and rely predominantly on cash, according to a 2019 Junior Achievement USA survey. In fact, 1 in 5 teens have never been into a physical bank and nearly a third of teens surveyed don’t have a bank account.  Like many … Continue reading Teach Boys Money Management


Parenting Outside the Lines with Meghan Leahy



Parenting outside the lines frees us up to connect with our children in an authentic way. It allows us to skip over the “must do’s” and simply, instead, do the next right thing in any given moment. And if the “right thing” ultimately takes us a direction we don’t want to go, it gives us … Continue reading Parenting Outside the Lines with Meghan Leahy


Boys & Grandparents



Are your boys close to their grandparents?  Not physically close — physical distance is often more a matter of necessity or practicality than choice — but emotionally close. Studies have found that close grandparent/grandchildren relationships protect against depression in both groups, and at least one study out of England found that kids who are close … Continue reading Boys & Grandparents


It’s a Confusing Time to Be a Boy



This is a really confusing time to be a boy in the United States. That’s one of (the many!) insights Ryan Wexelblatt — aka ADHD Dude — gained while working with 14 and 15 year old boys during his ADHD Dude Summer Camp this year. In a Facebook post, he wrote: These guys see their … Continue reading It’s a Confusing Time to Be a Boy