PREPARING MEN FOR OUR FUTURE: 2009 Showed the Best and Worst

Tough economic times invariably drive our culture to reconsider their fundamental priorities. When money is tight, what expenses are truly needful? In challenging times, where should we look for guidance? And with millions of breadwinners facing unemployment and an uncertain future, what does it mean to be a real man in a changing society?

The past year has provided a number of examples of American manhood at its best — and worst. From the professional excellence of Captain Cheseley Sullenburger safely landing a crippled airliner in the Hudson River and the courage of Captain Richard Phillips surrendering to Somali pirates in exchange for his crew’s release, to the untrammeled greed of Wall Street’s Bernie Madoff and the imploding careers of politicians and athletes caught in adultery, Americans have seen what happens if we uphold the best ideals of manly virtue or abandon them to pursue illicit money, sexual adventure, or gross self-indulgence.

Available for interviews to provide a real-world perspective on preparing the next generation of men are Hal and Melanie Young, parents of six sons and authors of the new book Raising Real Men: Surviving, Teaching and Appreciating Boys.

Hal and Melanie Young say that parents need to take an intentional and principled approach to teaching their sons what it means to be a man. As our educational system has responded to the demands of feminism and concerns about school violence, boys are finding it difficult to express their growing masculinity in ways that are acceptable to their teachers. Raising boys into men is not a job that can be left to schools and clubs, they say, but has to be tackled in the home.

According to the Youngs, boys are born with the seeds of masculine virtue – strength, energy, courage, adventurousness – that need to be cultivated to yield the kind of men we want for the next generation. Basing their response on traditional moral principles and their own experience raising six boys, Hal and Melanie reveal that much of what parents and teachers find difficult about boys is a basic misunderstanding of how they are made and how they should be trained. And part of this involves consciously providing boys with good and bad examples, heroes that will teach them more than guitar riffs, end-zone antics, and wisecracks.

Call Special Guests to schedule an interview with Hal and Melanie Young, authors of Raising Real Men, a book on parenting authority John Rosemond called “Just what the doctor ordered.”

ABOUT YOUR GUESTS, HAL AND MELANIE YOUNG:

Hal and Melanie Young are the parents of six boys and two girls, ages 20 to 1. They wrote their book Raising Real Men: Surviving, Teaching and Appreciating Boys, after more than ten years giving seminars and workshops on family and education issues, especially the challenges of raising boys in an increasingly feminized world. Their workshops have been enthusiastically received by live audiences from New York to Arizona and downloaded online by thousands of listeners in 57 countries world wide, and their fan base has grown to one of the top 6% on Facebook.

Hal and Melanie have published numerous articles on family policy issues, with pieces published by the Heartland Institute, the John Locke Foundation, the Foundation for Economic Education and the North Carolina Family Policy Council. Their articles have appeared in The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, Carolina Parent, TEACH, and Homeschooling Today.

Hal also served three terms as president of North Carolinians for Home Education and served as a spokesman for homeschooling on CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, USA Radio Network, State Government Radio, and North Carolina Public Radio’s The State of Things.

Raising Real Men: Surviving, Teaching and Appreciating Boys is published by Great Waters Press. It has been reviewed in Library Journal and endorsed by parenting authorities including syndicated columnist John Rosemond, authors Tedd Tripp, Douglas Wilson, and Kevin Swanson, and by Christian leaders like R.C. Sproul Jr., J. Michael Smith and Tom Ascol. The book’s website is http://www.RaisingRealMen.com