Caring for men and boys; This episode draws on Jordan Peterson’s book, '12 Rules for Life' and William Collins book 'The Empathy Gap' and blog, ‘The Illustrated Empathy Gap'; it explores some the ways in which boys and young men are disadvantaged in education, explores some strategies for improving the situation  and asks a few painful questions in conclusion.And of course there’s 'Good Guy of the Week’ who is Sam Darlaston, a DJ from London; he brought home more from the supermarket than was on his shopping list. His story involves a charming adventure with Tesco, broccoli and caterpillars.   

Caring for men and boys. After an encounter with a colleague who told me, "the patriarchy influences everything, it’s everywhere” I decided, in this episode, to focus on Jordan Peterson’s critique of the idea of patriarchy; his critique is in his chapter about Rule 11 in his book, ‘12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos’; the chapter is wittily entitled ‘Do not Bother Children When They are Skateboarding’ and the section I’m presenting here has a sub-heading ‘The Patriarchy: Help or Hindrance?’ And good guy of the week was the subject of a story I heard in the queue at Lidl’s last weekend about an exuberant footballing boy and his super dad. 

Caring for men and boys. This episode continues to explore and comment on Jan Jekeliek’s interview with Dr Warren Farrell. This time I’m focussing on the dynamics of, what Farrell presents as, the ideal family set up for children in general, and for boys in particular; and, in conclusion, I present my own blueprint for the ideal family set up.And of course, there’s another splendid 'Good Guy of the Week’. This week’s good guy story is edge of your seat, and features 74 years old Mr Richard Willbanks from Florida, Gunner, his 3 month old beloved Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy and an alligator! 

Caring for men and boys. This episode focusses again on the work of Dr Warren Farrell; it’s based on the first part of a Jan Jekielek ‘Thought Leaders’ podcast interview where Farrell exposes the holes in the  new Gender Policy Council established recently by President Biden. A link to this interview is in the episode notes.An of course, there’s another ‘Good Guy of the Week’. Buckshot Smith, age 91, definitely the oldest serving police officer in Camden, New Jersey, and probably the oldest serving police officer in the United States. His story will delight you.

Caring for men and boys. This episode focusses on the work of Dr Warren Farrell and is based on 2 interviews, one with Alysse ElHage for the Institute for Family Studies and one with Mark Walsh, of The Embodiment Channel on YouTube. His journey from women’s liberation to the men’s rights movement is described and there is discussion about the important role of dads.Good Guy of the week is 9 year old Oakley Hughes who was given a ‘Brave Bear Award’ by his school; his quick thinking and actions helped his mum in a tricky situation. 

Dads, Boys and Rough PlayCaring for Men and Boys. In this episode I look at just one of the many ways in which a father’s presence and involvement impacts positively upon his child’s development.And of course, as usual, there’s a ‘Good Guy of the Week’, a man from Cornwall, UK who helped my youngest daughter with her car. It involved what some more cynical people might call ’mansplaining’ but it was just the help she needed at the time.  

Caring for Men and Boys. This episode plays with the idea of gender reversal. It is based on an article that invites us to imagine what it would be like if we made femininity toxic, how it would be if we were to designate certain female characteristics as negative and in need of reprogramming. We are asked firstly, to imagine a feminine hygiene product manufacturer showing women and girls at their very worst in it’s advert; and secondly to imagine the American Psychological Association (APA) issuing new guidelines specifying that certain feminine traits are problematic and asking it’s members to take action to mitigate them. Gillette and the APA took just these actions with men and boys as their focus.  And of course, as always there’s 'Good Guy of the Week’ who is Alfie Date, the oldest man in Australia who is using his unusual skills to help very small penguins.   

Caring for Men and Boys. This episode is based on part of a paper authored by Belinda Brown who is an independent quantitative and qualitative researcher, a contributor to The Conservative Woman and a Patroness of the Scottish Family Party; she has an interest in gender issues, including men’s issues;  her paper is entitled  ‘The Internal Contradictions of Feminism’ which, as the title suggests, explores how feminism has not served all groups of women equally well and includes attention to a subject close to my heart, how, because of the influence of what I would name as radical feminism, men’s positive contribution to women and children is hidden.  Good Guy of the Week is Steve Higgins from Bristol who, in spite of Covid-19 restrictions, was determined to give his girlfriend a fantastic 30th Birthday! He was thoughtful, creative, generous and attended to every detail to give his girlfriend Kerry a wonderful Cornish themed birthday celebration.   

Caring for Men and boys. In this episode I return to the subject of parental alienation and in particular to the four criteria for identifying the phenomenon that are included in Amy Baker’s 2018 paper; the title of her paper is ‘Reliability and Validity of the Four-Factor Model of Parental Alienation’ and there is a link to it in the episode notes. The third of Baker’s four-factors identifies 17 alienating behaviours exhibited by an alienating parent.Good guy of the week is Jay Flynn whose modest pub quizzes, became an online phenomenon, in a most unexpected way, after lockdown began last year; and he has received an unexpected reward.

Caring for Men and Boys. This episode is based on a YouTube video, the link to which is in the notes; it features interviews with parental alienation specialists who attended the Parental Alienation Study Group Conference in Philadelphia, USA in September 2019.  The specialists interviewed in alphabetical order are Amy BakerWilliam BernetLinda GottliebJennifer HarmanSteve MillerKaren WoodallNick WoodallShawn WygantAnd Good Guy of the week is Andrew Taylor from New Zealand who did a lovely thing for dog owners and their pups!