Raising Healthy Boys: A Conversation with Dr. Warren Farrell

This fall, David Brooks published an essay in The New York Times called “The Crisis of Boys and Men.” Among his provocative arguments based on some pretty sobering data points: “Many men are like what Dean Acheson said about Britain after World War II. They have lost an empire but not yet found a role.”
When it comes to raising healthy boys today, parents and educators alike are called to wrestle with some troubling and uncomfortable byproducts of seismic shifts in our culture, economy, and society. The news isn’t all bad, though, because parents and schools can do a lot to meet the needs of boys.
To paint a picture of the issue and the way forward, we spoke with Dr. Warren Farrell, author of The Boy Crisis: Why our Sons are Struggling–and What We Can Do About It. It’s a complex and worthy topic. Just a note that this episode addresses some adult topics, so it may be best to listen without the kids in the car.

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A Healthy Path to High School

When your kids are young, high school may seem like a distant worry, but it comes faster than anyone would like. That’s why it’s good to have help, which is what Jamie Moffett provides students in Marin Montessori’s Junior High School. Jamie joins the podcast to discuss the transition to high school and to share her experiences with MMS students who apply to and attend independent and public high schools. She also offers a bit of practical advice for what families can do to support their adolescents.

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Vital Questions & Trends in Education

Like many aspects of our society, education is in a time of transformation. On my mind specifically are six urgent questions about the future of schools in our society. Though the answers to each aren’t always obvious, understanding the context and specifics of the questions is an important first step for us all…

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How to Resist a Lure

We know things in relation to other things – we know tall in comparison to short, clean in comparison to messy. So why wouldn’t we compare what our children know to some standard of what they should be learning? After all, we worry they’re falling behind or, on the flip side, take pride in their ability to achieve beyond expectations. Comparison to a standard makes almost unimpugnable sense.

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Tackling the Loneliness Crisis

This summer my younger sister and I took a beach walk. Even though we live only a few hours away from each other, we’d not seen each other in person in more than a year. During the walk she said, “…it just feels like the world is spinning off of its axis.”

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Building Our Kids’ Resilience: Realistic Optimism

We are living through this disquieting time together. Should we expose ourselves all day to the 24-hour news cycle, then panic and paralysis will likely be our bedfellows. How can we stay current, while also role modeling for our children an energized and growth-mindset approach to these challenging times? How can we grow our children’s resilience, and our own?

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