Unconditional and Without End

How To Raise A Boy: The Power of Connection to Build Good Men by Michael Reichert, PhD
TarcherPerigee, April 1, 2019

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How to Raise a Boy builds on Reichert's previous titles – Reaching Boys, Teaching Boys and I Can Learn From You – which focus on best practices in engaging and relating to boys in school. How to Raise a Boy takes a more expansive look at boyhood and is intended to serve a wider audience (i.e., teachers and parents) than his first two books. The best practices in relational learning apply to educators as readily as to parents. Though the central thesis of his book may seem obvious – that boys require healthy relationships with caring adults to successfully navigate the treacherous waters of male adolescence – Reichert demonstrates why the work is still so challenging. Boys become oppositional when they perceive that our support of them is conditional or that we have given up on them. Fortunately, boys do not require perfection from their adults, and Reichert tells compelling stories of how we can help even the most seemingly lost among them. In establishing his argument, Reichert draws not only on research, but also on his varied anecdotal experience working in private practice, schools (he has worked with the Haverford School for several decades), and the criminal justice system.