Strong Mothers, Strong Sons: Lessons Mothers Need to Raise Extraordinary Men - Meg Meeker

"In most situations we encounter with our sons, our instincts tell us how we should respond and what we should do. So when you are faced with a decision that you must make about your son and you feel confused, I encourage you to pull back from the advice of well-meaning friends and listen to what the small voice inside you is trying to say."
At times repetitive, but I did gain some good insight from reading this book about mothers and sons, and mothering sons. It made me ask some hard questions about the way I parent and whether I am allowing my husband equal opportunity for parenting. Since fathers (or father figures) are so important for boys, pushing for a closer relationship between those two is important. There were several passages I snapped a photo of and sent to my sister, "remind you of anyone?" (Sorry Dad, but it was all RIGHT there). 

Meg Meeker is a physician who has seen many mothers and sons in her practice. In Strong Mothers, Strong Sons, she imparts many of the lessons she's learned from her patients and from mothering a son of her own.

One chapter deals with making sure your son is not overly dependent on you. Allowing him to fight his own fights and battles but supporting him all the same. It's an interesting phenomenon I've seen tangentially through work and talking with people who work in higher education. Parents who call professors regarding grades. Parents who manage grocery deliveries and try to mediate roommate squabbles. And this is for young adults. Meeker mentions mothers who finish homework for boys and take to Facebook for public airing of their sons grievances. Yikes. Won't be doing that (I hope).

I also really appreciated the section that talked about boys and sex. I'm a squeamish person by nature. I hate awkwardness in all forms. And sex talks between parents and kids seems really just, awkward. But Meeker gives some really basic pointers and conversation starters for boys of any age. Curious, I gave it a shot testing out the elementary age question suggested that went something like this:

ME: "I know kids at school might start saying things about what Moms and Dads do when they get married and are in love, like kiss and stuff. If you ever have any questions about that, you can always ask me since I'm a grown up and I know a lot of stuff and because kids sometimes get confused about those things and may not give you the best information." 

KID: silence

ME: "So is there anything you want to ask me about that? Or tell me about that?"

KID: "Well, this one kid in the cafeteria, put all his milk in his mouth and then squirted it all over the table and it even came out his nose."

Ah, okay we'll table this and check back in a few months. All is well in first grade boy land at the moment. 

Since I'm goal oriented and reading one parenting book a year is a goal of mine, I'm happy to get this goal checked off my list. And bonus, I actually learned a few things in the process.

3.5/5 Stars.