I found this book to be an incredibly useful tool for me as I LEARNED how to navigate my flawed interpretation of my son's inaction. I could clearly identify with the explanations of the author in the causes of underachievement in teenage boys. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. This book is for a C student who's 100% into the consumer culture and expectations of American maleness. I don't agree with everything the author said, but I listened and am now armed with additional knowledge and ways to help/cope/work with each of them as they grow.

I wish I’d read it earlier when my son was in elementary or middle school as I would’ve adjusted my approach and response in handling some of his struggles with motivation sooner, but I still appreciated learning several tips that I can begin to implement now. This is especially true for boys who are known to be very smart -- instead of dealing with the anxiety and potential of failure, he takes the "opt-out" route. While he can't claim to know your experience and your child, he is pretty bang on with his analogy of the teen boy. I REALLY worry about the impact the rising levels of perfectionism in young people is having on their mental health.This book was immediately relatable and not only guides you in seeing that your child is all right, but that you are too! However, as I was reading the introduction, I got already convinced that this book is going to be a great tool for me. It was also painfully apparent that this book is written for parents with financial and other privilege, whose kids are unquestionably college bound. While a completely agree that we need to keep investigating gender differences both in brain biology, behavior and the like, and that such differences exist his approach was gross. Every now and then a book comes along that stops you in your tracks, with multiple light bulb moments, and a really important message.

The demands on a teenager today are more intense than when we were teenagers, mostly in the academic sense.I am sure my 12 year old will be very happy now that I will no longer be a walking self-help book giving him advise at every turn, and letting him learn his life-lessons from living his own life. As the former Director of Outpatient Services at Newark Beth Israel Hospital and Associate Director at Family Connections, a mental health agency, he has supervised and trained numerous clinicians in family and child therapy.