Dr. William Pollack, in his Introduction of Real Boys, is addressing how we prematurely require boys, according to the “Boy Code” to separate from their mothers, in particular. He addresses in his book a myriad of issues that stems from this code followed by society. I am personally challenged to consider well how we are handling the issues of masculinity in light of the prevalent and sobering recent events related to boys, guns, and violence.

“As early as age five or six, many boys are pushed out of the family and expected to be independent – in school, camp, at all kinds of activities and situations they may or may not be ready to handle. We give our boys in early adolescence a second shove – into new schools, sports competitions, jobs, dating, travel and more. The problem is not that we introduce our boys to the world – that’s what parents should be doing – its how we do it.”

Dr. William Pollack

Today, like never before, we are seeing the fruit of what we have sown as a society. The culture and norms of a society are perpetuated through education, and home life. There are addition influencers are our future generations but in general, it is either at home (when a child is not in school) or during school hours.