Raising boys is an adventure — we know. All of our writers are parents of at least one boy. We’ve created BoysDad.com to help you discover fun ways to spend quality time with your son. BoysDad.com is your source for the essentials of parenting boys. Here you’ll find loads of free information about raising boys, and only the coolest merchandise you can find.

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Pinewood Derby® - Free Plans

Check out our plans and secrets for building a really fast pinewood derby car. Let me know what you do to win at the pinewood derby - just post a reply on the pinewood derby page (click here).
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The Dangerous Book for Boys

Equal parts droll and gorgeous nostalgia book and heartfelt plea for a renewed sense of adventure in the lives of boys and men, Conn and Hal Iggulden’s The Dangerous Book for Boys became a mammoth bestseller in the United Kingdom in 2006. Adapted, in moderation, for American customs in this edition (cricket is gone, rugby remains; conkers are out, Navajo Code Talkers in), The Dangerous Book is a guide book for dads as well as their sons, as a reminder of lore and technique that have not yet been completely lost to the digital age. Recall the adventures of Scott of the Antarctic and the Battle of the Somme, relearn how to palm a coin, tan a skin, and, most charmingly, wrap a package in brown paper and string. The book’s ambitions are both modest and winningly optimistic: you get the sense that by learning how to place a splint or write in invisible ink, a boy might be prepared for anything, even girls (which warrant a small but wise chapter of their own). (Amazon.com Review)
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Forbidden LEGO: Build the Models Your Parents Warned You Against!
It just may be impossible to exhaust the creative potential of LEGO bricks. With an active imagination as your guide, there are endless possibilities–provided you follow the LEGO Company’s official (and sensible) rules. This means no cutting or tampering with bricks, creating models that shoot unapproved projectiles, or using non-standard parts with any LEGO product. After all, those little precision-molded ABS bricks can be dangerous in the wrong hands! Well, toss those rules out the window.

Forbidden LEGO introduces you to the type of free-style building that LEGO’s master builders do for fun in the back room. Using LEGO bricks in combination with common household materials (from rubber bands and glue to plastic spoons and ping-pong balls) along with some very unorthodox building techniques, you’ll learn to create working models that LEGO would never endorse. Try your hand at a toy gun that shoots LEGO plates, a candy catapult, a high voltage LEGO vehicle, a continuous-fire ping-pong ball launcher, and other useless but incredibly fun inventions.

Once you get into the spirit, you’ll want to try inventing your own rule-breaking models. Forbidden LEGO’s authors, share tips and tricks that will inspire you and help you turn your visions into reality. Nothing’s against the rules in this book! (Available from Amazon.com)
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Bullying Resources

From the Health Resources and Services Administration, stopbullyingnow has lots of information and resources for kids and parents dealing with the problem of bullying. Features animated “webisodes” like the one here with question and answer sheets… Read the full article here.
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Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys

In Raising Cain, Dand Kindlon, Ph.D., and Michael Thompson, Ph.D., two of the country’s leading child psychologists, share what they have learned in more than thirty-five years of combined experience working with boys and their families. They reveal a nation of boys who are hurting—sad, afraid, angry, and silent. Kindlon and Thompson set out to answer this basic crucial question: What do boys need that they’re not getting? They illuminate the forces that threaten our boys, teaching them to believe that “cool” equals macho strength and stoicism. Cutting through outdated theories of “mother blame,” “boy biology,” and “testosterone,” the authors shed light on the destructive emotional training our boys receive – the emotional miseducation of boys. (See other books about raising healthy boys here).

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