都說在21世紀要栽培好男孩是越來越難了，當女生們越來越積極外向，在各行各業取得成功，男生們卻似乎原地踏步，裹足不前。今時今日，男生的大學入學率遠遠低於女生，而退學率卻節節上升，似乎傳統價值裡推崇的優秀男生已經不多見了，反而常常見到的是一群群沉迷電子遊戲、人生目標不明朗、甚至逃避長大的「宅男」們，是傳統的思維已經過時了？還是新一代的好男孩早已變了樣子？

沒有了舊式社會的先天優勢，今日的男孩面臨的挑戰更多了，如何教養出優秀自信的男生？且來聽聽一位育有五名兒子（及一名女兒）的媽媽分享她的心得：

做個好學不倦的家長～

讓孩子看到你好學不倦的榜樣，就是培養孩子愛上學習的最佳的方法！閱報、看書、學一種新的音樂或語言、練一項新的運動，如果能和孩子一起學一起交流，那就更好了！

相信孩子的才華～

儘管不是每個孩子都能成為火箭工程專家，但我們要絕對尊重和信任他的學習能力

給孩子念書～

不要因為孩子已經學會自己看書而改變你的習慣，他仍然喜歡聽到你的聲音和語調。

把電視／電腦／遊戲機關上！

避免讓孩子過早接觸商業媒體廣告和電視節目裡扭曲了的「男性形象」

多買書、多看書～

去圖書館或向朋友借書當然也很好，可是家裡若能有屬於自己的藏書，能常常翻閱、又能隨意寫上自己的閱讀心得，不是更好嗎？買書的消費其實不需很高，週末逛逛舊書攤，就是一個很好的親子活動。

拿孩子的書來讀～

最初，我只想替孩子審查一下書的內容和年齡適合度，可是隨著孩子的成長，交換閱讀心得成為了我們之間的溝通橋樑。

原文如下：

Raising real men: If you want smart boys

When I asked my teenagers for their ideas on raising smart boys, I expected them to cite all sorts of examples such as reading books, learning a musical instrument or visiting the library. 

I was surprised by their nearly identical answer — "Be prepared to be very different."

My older sons and my nieces confirmed the same idea: It is much more socially acceptable for a girl to "be smart" than it is for a boy.

I realized my sons had gone to the very crux of educating boys with their first response. Google "American boys falling behind," or any sort of variation on those words, and millions (it's Google after all) of articles pop up decrying boys' lag behind girls in American schools.

An article from NPR pegs the problem: "We have lots of boys who at an early age start to think of education as being not masculine enough."

How did we get here? In the past, education was highly valued. When did "smart" equate with "uncool"? And doesn't every parent want to raise intelligent, creative children, both boys and girls?

I have ideas on some of the reasons, but I'll get to those a bit later. If you've read this far, you're the kind of parent who cares about education, so I'll offer up my best tips.

Take time to educate yourself. I'd placed this farther down on the list, but my boys insisted nothing could be more important. When parents love learning, their kids will love it too. Read the paper, listen to the radio, teach yourself an instrument or a language or any new skill, read books and talk about them.

My husband often says he doesn't think he's particularly smart; he just takes the time to learn. He's always reading out loud something from Jewish World Review, citing a story he heard on NPR or studying books on economics and history. His example fuels my boys' passion for knowledge.

Believe your child is brilliant. Shinichi Suzuki oft repeated, "Every child can learn." Einstein said, "Every child is born a genius." Not every child can become a concert violinist or a nuclear physicist, but every child can learn. We need to believe in our children's abilities. Teach your child bits of foreign language, math, science, music, etc.

Read to your kids. This advice has been given so often and expanded on so many times, I won't belabor the issue. Just don't stop reading to your kids when they learn to read. They still crave your voice and your attention.

Turn off the TV. Again, this may seem a bit obvious, but a lack of TV does more than free up time for reading and practicing the piano. By avoiding commercial television, you also avoid modern stereotypes of masculinity. Kids won't see the goofy, crude men in beer commercials and sitcoms when they don't see commercials or sitcoms at all.

Buy books. Go to the library or borrow from friends, but make sure you have plenty of books in your home. I've heard expense cited as an excuse, but with garage sales, used book stores and the library closeout shelf, you can easily amass a decent library for $10 a month. It's important to have books in which you can fold the corners and write in the margins, and to read over and over like revisiting an old friend.

Read your kids' books. At first, I did this as a precaution for my ambitious little readers. I wanted to make sure their books were age-appropriate (handing my son Stefan "Schindler's List" at age 10 was not a good idea). But as they got older, my children began to hand me books they'd read and loved.