Читать книгу The Complete Parenting Collection - Steve Biddulph, Steve Biddulph - Страница 9

Have you ever browsed through a family photo collection and seen photos of a boy growing up, from babyhood right through to manhood? If you have, you’ll know that boys don’t grow up in a smooth way. They go in surges – looking the same for a while, then suddenly they appear to be changing overnight. And that’s only on the outside. On the inside, great changes are happening, too. But developing maturity and character aren’t as automatic as physical development; a boy can get stuck. Everyone knows at least one man who is large in body but small in mind or soul, who hasn’t developed as a mature person. Such men are everywhere – they might be a prime minister, a president or a tycoon, but you look at them and think, Yep, still a boy. And not a very nice one …

Boys don’t grow up well if you don’t help them. You can’t just shovel in cereal, provide clean T-shirts, and have them one day wake up as a man! A certain program has to be followed. The trick is to understand what is needed – and when.

Luckily, boys have been around for a very long time. Every society in the world has encountered the challenge of raising boys, and has come up with solutions. The three stages of boyhood are timeless and universal. Native Americans, Kalahari Bushmen and Inuit Eskimos all knew about these stages. When I talk about them to parents they say, ‘That’s right!’ because the stages match their experience.