Raising Cain DVD - Review

Introduction




This is a 2-hr PBS documentary which explores the emotional development of boys in America today. Dr Thompson conducted in-depth interviews with various boys from birth through high school, of different race and socio-economical backgrounds. His candid interviews reveal the many challenges and confusion all boys encounter while growing up in America.




This video is an eye-opener which reveals:

1. How and why boys are being stifled in their development by society, by stereo-typing and also by educational system which is inclined towards girls’ development.

2. How the lack of positive adult-male role models give rise to boy’s decline in classroom performance, rise in violent outbreaks and inability to communicate inner feelings.

At the end of each section, Dr Thompson models ways for parents, educators and counselors to engage boys and help them discuss many internal issues they have conflicts with.

Though the video focuses on American boys, I can easily identify many similar issues which also exist locally, in Singapore.

Yes, there are many interesting parenting books in the market about raising boys. And it would take a while to read and “digest” their content. This video has cleverly condensed the essence of the problems in raising boys in such an easy and comprehensive manner that I believe it can speed up our learning curve in raising our boys.

I highly recommend this Raising Cain video to parents, educators and anyone who works with boys, and is interested in raising happy and successful boys.

Raising boys is not difficult – by understanding their physical and emotional needs, half of our "battle" is won

Learn from me, I had acquired the life-skills of raising boys by:-

1) Observing how those matured and experienced men love and work with  boys.

In my instance, I learnt it by working closely for 3 years with the male volunteers in The Boy’s Brigade. You can find these good male role-models at home, in school, church or any established organization whereby they focus mainly working with boys, with the aim to nurture and groom them well into their manhood.



2) Learning from the Experts

I was fortunate to stumble upon Dr Michael Thompson’s Book – Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys. He has helped me to understand better the psychological development of boys especially the struggles most of them encounter silently in their growing up years – which are surprisingly different from the girls’.

Truly, he has empowered me with the necessary knowledge in my own journey in raising boys.

3) Having more hands-on practices

I worked as a care-giver to schooling kids in a student care centre for 5 years. With no officer’s uniform donning upon me, the respect or the speaking right I had to the boys had to be earned through my daily dealing with them. And I mean many daily dealings.

By applying all the experience and knowledge I had over there, I have won many boys over. They are generally more co-operative, respectful and obedient under my care. They give me certain privileges which they don’t give to other teachers in the center. And that makes me often an object of envy amongst my colleges.

My strongly encourage parents and teachers to equip themselves with necessary knowledge and skills in raising their boys. They are not that difficult to handle. Believe me. After all, our boys would not be with us long. Before you know it, they will be young men soon. Some will be great men, some will be our average Johns and sadly some may seem to have problem of growing up – and I see a lot of such “casualties” in our modern society.

 

Equipped yourselves… and read on books and DVDs on Raising Boys...