In Boys Should Be Boys: The Seven Secrets to Raising Healthy Sons, author Meg Meeker, M.D. outlines a necessary guide for parents on how to raise morally upstanding, well adjusted sons in these turbulent times. Many parents read books, seek professional advice, and add controls to electronic media in their home in order to keep their boys on the right track. They want to keep depression from being a part of their son's life. They want their sons to be academically, or artistically, or athletically successful. Ultimately, parents want their sons to be happy and medical studies show that the best way to accomplish this is to give your child a belief in God.

Boys who are religious are less likely to be sexually promiscuous, drink alcohol, smoke, use drugs, and struggle with depression--all powerful incentives for parents to focus on religion in raising their sons. Whether they are three or twenty-three, the single greatest deficit operating in a boy's life isn't education, lack of opportunity, or even lack of stable parenting--it is the faith in a God who cares. Boys who adhere to a traditional religious practice are far more likely to be able to withstand the pressures of life and to have a sense of wholeness and purpose about themselves than boys who have either been raised with no faith or with a formless self-directed faith.

Meeker reveals why God is good for boys:

• Hope: God is the best source of hope. He has an advantage over any other provider: He has no limitations; He will not die; He cannot fail.
• Love: God is one place he can turn, because if unconditional love can exist, it most certainly can be found in God
• Truth: All boys desire to find the truth. Finding truth via wrestling over the existence of God opens a boy's mind like no other mental exercise.
• Grace: A boy needs to know that when he makes a mistake he can confront his decision, relinquish bad behaviors, and start again Grace opens the door for a fresh start--whenever parents fail at extending grace, God succeeds.

In Boys Should Be Boys, Dr. Meeker explains how giving your son the security of God is the parental defense you can offer for preventing negative behavior, providing positive comfort and structure, and keeping your boys on track to becoming good men.

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