*This is from the currect BSA Scouter mag May-June 1999 and I will not type the entire text...but *quote the boil'd down -=A=- version, and be advised: I do not pack spell check! ---*000*--- *The boys are hungry.... They need to be shown the "magic path to manhood" and under the gruff "I-don't-need or-want help" attitude.. the boys want a challenge... they want discipline and they want to learn to shape,create and fix things! they want tofeel a sence of their place and their worth in the world. *Many times all of us turn our backs on boys... when they are wrong.. we work to stiffle their energy.. We say we award a boy for "Polite behavior" when he sits for long periods without disruption... calling that skill "Good" while energitic boys who jump and climb and talk are labled "Bad" and outcast. As they grow in age and stature we "fear" their size and power and emotional turmoil... Rarely do we meet boys head-on and give attention,correct information and the Love they need to grow into stable,secure, and motivated men our society needs. MEETING BOYS NEEDS "Adolesent boys are our most undernourished population.. they bring their yerning to their society but do not recieve a reward of care and strong human love.." "One of the great tasks of the new millinuem is the invigoration of a healthy,robust,compassionate and successful masculinity for our adolesent males" THREE FAMILIES EVERY BOY NEEDS! --------------- 1. The "nucular" family! 2. the "extended" family 3. culture and community groups, religious groups, peer groups and access to respected community leaders.. and a child friendly media. Allmost everyone grew up with Families of Grand-pas and Grandmas aunts and Uncles who had "nucular" families simular to your own to measure your self and recieve encouragement and rewards for achievement. Today that's harder to find. Single parent families, and a culture that allows non-involvement of older persons in the lives of youth... pressing for a *active pop interpitation of ageing at the exspence of wisdom and traditions... The ignorance of the population does not decrease the need for boys to adopt role models and vague media figures dance and sing to attract attention to various negitive forces in touch with the base desires of un-guided youth. *Violence is one fruit of inattention.. and as long as it was the domain of a minoroty culture of predominate black youth... the greater society ignored it and put it out of mind in a convienient way untill Joneboro school shooting brought it our eyes... It's a bleak landscape that lot's of boys see.. and statistics point that out.. that they are more subject to arrest, violence, suicide and drop out of education 4 times as much as young ladies.... The shooting at Jonesboro and *Now Columbine High are starting to get thru to the general public as the the state of mind of young male adolesents.. That's a admireable cultureal shift... "for in order to allow them to grow into fine young men- we have to understand what makes them tick!" BIOLOGICAL REALITY "Boys and Girls have differing brians" 1.Males do better at spatial tasks (IE. THINKING ABOUT CARBURATOR PARTS) 2. Girls are better at readin: (IE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST!) 3. Females are verbaly better (*Charm...patience) 4.Males more single task-oriented ( ...gottah get that Carb out of there..then food!) 5. females better at multi-tasking than men 6.Females read faces for emotion better... Testosterone and the male brain cause boys to need a quick relese of energy...they want to solve problems quickly...even complex problems that require time and effort. *And when they can't find that quick release, their internal system becomes frustrated<G> Instead of working to give boys healthy outlets to release these tendencies for aggression and compitition.. we have eather ignord them or actively encouraged boys to stifle them. "Instead of recognizeing in our older boys that they may find it inherently difficult to understand their girlfriends emotions.. we berate them and tell them that they are insensitive... rather than to suggest better comminication. In general our cultures message to adolesent males is that something is wrong with them" WHAT TO DO? ----------- (more to come part 2) Thanks -=A=- -=*Jes'Shake off the dirt and take a step up! ...The MULE *=- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ----****X****---- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [EMAIL PROTECTED] - "Royal Rangers... A Lifetime Adventure." NWOP207 For the BOYS! * For Mitch Silvers! FcF July '66 :: Duane -=A=- Wheeler * Portland,Oregon * Jesus is Lord :: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -----****X****---- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______ To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe rangernet" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Eat the hay & spit out the sticks!" RTKB&G4JC! Autoresponder: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rangernet.org
