It’s just over two years since Ruth Kerr and Richard Aston posted news about their book Our Boys on the site, and the relevance of their thoughts, humour, research and experience is as strong today.
As CEO until August 2017, Richard steered Big Buddy from a fledgling organisation operating under the wing of Man Alive, to an independent social agency with over 10 staff. The book draws on those 13 years of work, as well as his and Ruth’s own parenting and grand-parenting advice.
It’s an easy-to-read guide for anyone engaged in raising boys, including mentors and of course, mums, and can still be purchased at multiple outlets. Amazon sums the book up succinctly:
This go-to manual for raising boys has accessible, helpful advice for parents bringing up boys of any age. Our Boys is a positive, practical, down-to-earth guide that outlines what makes boys tick, describes their development from babyhood to childhood to manhood, and is full of great ideas and suggestions. Each chapter focuses on a different age group—the first four years, 4 to 7, 8 to 11, 12 to 17, and 18-plus—detailing how boys grow physically, emotionally, and developmentally throughout these stages. Ruth Kerr and Richard Aston have been working with boys for 13 years, matching fatherless boys with male mentors and running a highly successful program called Big Buddy that helps boys grow and develop into fine young men. They have distilled the wisdom they’ve gained from working with hundreds of Big Buddy boys and men, as well as from parenting their own children and grandchildren.
If you’d like a copy of this or any other text on mentoring boys but don’t know where to access it, please don’t hesitate to contact us – we’ll be only to pleased to help.
