Raising Real Men

The day I received an email from Melanie and Hal Young was probably like any other day with 3 young boys. Except that the commonplace falls, bumps and bruises of this particular day necessitated our first ER visit (I know, not too bad in 9 combined years of little boyhood).

"Would you be interested in a review copy of Raising Real Men?" They asked.

Still shaking from our first ER visit, I laughed at reading the subtitle, Surviving, Teaching and Appreciating Boys, (at the moment, I'd have taken one out of three) and answered an emphatic, "Yes!" while internally squeaking, "Help!"

And I'm glad I did. Raising Real Men is an enjoyable read. Free from fad/pop psychology theories, this book encourages parents to help boys become men as God (not modern culture) intended with substantial scriptural (NKJV) basis.

With a great sense of humor, the Young's (who have 6 boys and 2 girls) point out the myriad ways that the innate characteristics of young boys (boundless energy, destructiveness, risk-taking, etc.), properly developed and trained rather than stripped away, can lead to strong, responsible, faithful leaders. I particularly enjoyed the discussion of role models and heroes (with Jesus being the ultimate hero) at a time when society's portrayal of men seems to be either feminized or power-hungry.

Sometimes life with boys is pretty overwhelming and the temptation to just get through the day is very appealing. The Young's encourage parents to fight against this writing, "Our focus must be on leading our sons into godly manhood, not just trying to manage them to make our lives more convenient and pleasant," noting the truth that, "when the boys are quiet, someone better check on them."

Acknowledging that supernatural life is a grace from God, the Young's encourage parents to pursue their own life of prayer (and, I would add, the Sacraments) and relationship with Christ as the best way to draw our children to Our Lord. This example, even in its imperfections, is indispensable.

Our Incrediboys are still quite young, so I don't know yet how we will handle some of the issues tackled in later chapters including money, college and courtship, though I appreciated reading those chapters as well.

There is a great chapter on homeschooling boys packed with tons of practical advice (which also reminds me that I wanted to read Leonard Sax's Boys Adrift). Some ideas are things that we have already figured out on our own...our oldest runs laps in the yard when we sense he's getting antsy. He also does all of his writing work standing up. He just can't sit in a chair (literally, he falls out on a daily basis!). One of several reasons that a traditional classroom would be such a challenge for him and many other boys.

Written from a Christian perspective, there is much good advice, friendly humor and biblical wisdom in this book. Raising Real Men (free shipping on their website) is a real and practical book from real, practical parents who know that life with boys is messy and noisy as well as joyful and inspiring.

Berry Books

Red posted last week on her families berry picking adventure. The Incredible family did the same as well and we just finished making a batch of homemade blackberry jam this morning.

Like Red, I think great books are a must to go with most family activities!

Since many people enjoy berry picking over the 4th of July weekend, here are a few posts I ran across with some of our favorite berry books:

Strawberry books at Melissa Wiley's blog (at bottom of post)

Blueberry books at Dawn's blog (also at bottom of post).

One not mentioned: Jamberry by Bruce Degen.

Librarian For a Day

I've taken on a new job. My husband saw it coming when I walked out the door to attend a meeting at our local library. When I returned the first thing he said was, "What did you agree to do?"

We live in a small town of 5,000 people where the very edge of suburbia melds into real farm land. Our community library is a shared endeavor at our local high school. It is a tiny little thing. Which is probably why it took us almost a year to actually visit it given the convenience of the exponentially larger libraries closer to the city which allow books to be placed on hold from the comfort of your own home and then picked up while the boys are strapped into the comfort of their own stroller.

Oh, and our local library has a 3 book limit. I almost passed out when they told me that. The librarian (sensing my disbelief) asked if that was a problem and I told her that we usually have at least 50 library books out at a time. Then she almost passed out.

After gathering a little more info, it became clear why there is a limit. There simply aren't very many books. And remember those little slips in the back where they physically write the due date (before those date-changing stamp things) that were around when I was in grade school?
That's the check-out system. It's kind of charming, except that it would take about 2 hours to check out 50 books. It still might be worth the trip to check out 12 books (if I got everyone, including the baby, a library account ) if there were great books. When I saw the entire Babysitters Club series and Spongebob early readers, my heart sank. Yikes. Maybe it would be a challenge for us each to pick out 3 books.

So I went to the open meeting of the Friends of the library a few weeks ago to see what, if anything, I could do to help our local library situation. I left the meeting treasurer of the organization and had the check book delivered to my door a few days later and was promised that I would be able to purchase some quality children's literature. Before you get carried away and remind me that I have very little free time to devote to something like this, let me give you a number. $800. This is the cash on hand to buy books and more shelving (which is desperately needed). I could spend a good chunk of that on children's books in my sleep (and probably have thanks to one-click). Every book the library purchases gets an entire article in our local newspaper.

So my question to you all is this: If you had to buy one book for the children's section of your local library, what would it be? It would need to be engaging and beautiful and thought-provoking, to inpsire all the senses and make the child (and adult) want to come back for more....

Do Your Kids Want To Write a Book?

Some dear Princetonian friends are contemplating starting an on-line business "centered around having kids write and illustrate their own books on-line."

I think everyone on the blog is a self-proclaimed bibliophile. So, while none of us would ever put away our paper and colored pencils, it is an interesting idea.

They have set up a survey on-line to gauge interest and gather input. It can be found here.

If you have any thoughts or ideas, please click through and check it out (there is a gift card raffle for filling it out)!

Dust Jackets

Could someone please explain to me why books have dust jackets? Are they, as the name implies, to keep dust off of the books? Or to make books look pretty?

I just don't know what to do with the dust jackets. If I leave them on, they get torn and I feel badly, but now I have a stash of dust jackets and I have no idea what to do with them. Should I keep them? I am very clutter-phobic, so the thought of a big pile of paper that I will never use gives me chills. I know we have some librarians who comment regularly. Clearly, this is not the most substantial question asked on this blog, but thoughts?