In Praise of Skinned Knees and Grubby Faces

Washington Post ^ | Sunday, June 24, 2007; B01 | Conn Iggulden

[fgoodwin]

When I had a son of my own six years ago, I looked around for the sort of books that would inspire him. I was able to find some, but none with the spirit and verve of those old titles. I wanted a single compendium of everything I'd ever wanted to know or do as a boy, and I decided to write my own.

We began with everything we had done as kids, then added things we didn't want to see forgotten. History today is taught as a feeble thing, with all the adventure taken out of it. We wanted stories of courage because boys love those. We wanted stories about men like Royal Air Force fighter pilot Douglas Bader, Scott of the Antarctic, the Wright Brothers -- boys like to read about daring men, always with the question: Would I be as brave or as resourceful? Does every high school offer a class on adventure tales? No -- and then we complain that boys don't read anymore.

Finally, we chose our title -- "The Dangerous Book for Boys." It's about remembering a time when danger wasn't a dirty word. It's safer to put a boy in front of a PlayStation for a while, but not in the long run. You only have to push a baby boy hard on a swing and see his face light up. It's not learned behavior -- he's hardwired to enjoy a little risk.

Boys are different from girls. Teaching them as though they are girls who don't wash as much leads to their failure in school, causing trouble all the way. In history lessons, they prefer stories of Rome and of courage to projects on the suffragettes. The problem with fighting adult gender battles in the classroom is that the children always lose.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

Fabulous book on boyhood/manhood: WILD AT HEART.

[ikka]

It is interesting to read the comments on this book on Amazon.com .

Of course, in spite of the UK edition of the book being on all the best seller lists, none of the major book review publications in the US has reviewed the US edition - they probably want it to go away.

Who hates the idea of "boys being boys" - the usual suspects of course!

[Earthdweller]

I wish all the feminazis would just go non-proliferate themselves out of existence and leave the raising of children to people who still love male children as they are.