Boys Adrift: The five factors driving the growing epidemic of unmotivated boys and underachieving young men
by Leonard Sax, M.D., Ph.D.
As soon as my college mentor found out that we had a little boy, she suggested to Neil that he and I read this book. It took us a while to get it - and I wish we'd read it sooner!
This book is about why we see so many boys and young men failing in school and disengaged at home - as well as why so many boys are being diagnosed (many misdiagnosed) and treated for ADHD - and how these boys are being affected by the medications that "seem" to be working.
The five factors that he talks about are:
Video Games
Teaching Methods
Prescription Drugs
Environmental Toxins
and the Devaluation of Masculinity
A fact about me: I'm a pretty research-loving person. I actually loved my Family research meathods class in college, believe it or not.
I have seriously been FLOORED reading this book. In particular, the chapter about Environmental Toxins, referring to Endocrine Disruptors, was seriously disturbing. I've done research on BPA - and BPA is all the public has really been warned about - but the "experts" still won't admit how big of a problem it is. After reading the stuff on BPA, I got rid of all the plastics in my house that were not BPA free. Well, as it turns out, that just wasn't good enough. Apparently BPA is just one of the many Endocrine disruptors that are found in plastics. And these are just as bad, if not much, much worse than BPA. And all the stuff that we've read about only having to worry about BPA and the like when food is heated, doesn't matter anymore. It isn't just heat that makes this stuff leach onto food. Yes, it makes the leachig worse, but some of this stuff can leach onto food or drinks by just being in the plastic in general.
When male fish exposed to this stuff end up not having sperm, but rather producing eggs - and tons of men in the same area where these fish were found are having a plethera of fertility problems....and when girls exposed to this stuff shift the "norm" of the onset of puberty to the age of 8 - yeah. it's time to take this stuff seriously.
After Neil read this chapter, he had me stop using plastic anything to warm Balian's food - even if it was BPA free. We now use glass bowls for all of his food.
After I read this chapter, I'm ready to throw out every bit of plastic I can in the kitchen. Tupperware, sippy cups, pitchers, bowls, plates, everything. I'm looking into stainless steel sippy cups and sport cups, stainless steel bowls, plates, and regular cups for the kids, and pyrex glass storage containers for the tupperware.
Yes. I'm absolutely serious.
I know that plastic is everywhere - so much food is sold in plastic. we just can't get away from it, unless we are able to shop at whole foods, where much of their food is sold in non-plastic packaging. But the way I see it, the more I CAN do, the more I help my kids.
The chapter on ADHD tied everything together for me too. I've always been skeptical of the big "ADHD push" that has been going on lately. It's like every time you turn around somebody is diagnosed with ADHD. Yes, I know, and the author definitely points out that there ARE real cases of ADHD (some of which is caused by some factors of the endocrine disrupters, believe it or not), but that there are also a TON of boys especially that are being misdiagnosed, and the effects of putting these boys on medications are not pretty.
This book is all based on research, (not just by the author, but by many others as well) and clinical experience.
So, a scary book, yes. But whoever said "Ignorance is bliss" is decieving themselves - and everyone else too. Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance just may mean a gradual change over time that results in a society of imasculated males that have no drive for life or anything else for that matter. And that's just not what God intended Men to be.
