The Boy Crisis & Fatherless Homes
When two prominent researcher/authors got together to study the difficulties that boys were facing in America today, they came back with a truckload of bad news. After 14 years of research they reported that single families headed by moms raised many boys who, sadly, fell behind in almost every category. Some will find that statement so offensive that it must not be reported, but if we care about our sons, we should at least look at the findings.
Statistically, boys raised in these homes—no matter how much love they received—are three times more likely to die from an overdose, 14 times more likely to end up in jail, and half as likely to go to college. For the first time in American history, our sons will have less education than their fathers. As boys mature, their suicide rate goes to six times that of young women. Meanwhile there is also a crisis of sexuality. They are afraid of being too sensitive or not sensitive enough. The old roles of being a warrior, protector, and supporter of the family are fading away, both because of changes in social norms and because without fathers in the home who exemplify those roles, they have no map to follow.
A key finding of this research is that boys who are hurt by the lack of a father in the home, also hurt others. More than 90% of male prisoners, and mass shooters are “dad-deprived males,” and 85% of youths in prison grew up in a fatherless home. Interestingly, 93% of mothers polled in the U.S. believe there is a crisis of “father absence.”
The authors say single mom's need support, we need to have equal numbers of male teachers in schools, and moms need to increase male leadership by involving their boys in organizations like Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and faith-based communities. Boys must have structure, boundary enforcement, goals, and male leaders.
To be fair, absent men are not entirely to blame. Women have worked so hard over the years to gain equality, that our society has blurred the God-given differences in the roles of the sexes, and diminished the unique and distinct gifts men and women have in raising children. "The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It" has plenty of answers, but let's face it, we've known this was going on and seen the results for a long time.
So what are we going to do?
Nancy
