Help Your Boys Succeed: The essential guide for parents(Help Your Child to Succeed)

At least once a year, around the time of examination results, the papers are full of stories of how boys are underachieving in comparison to girls. While arousing the curiosity, and often deeply troubling the parents of boys, the press, and indeed the government, rarely offers more than the 'laddish culture' or 'anti social behaviour' as the root cause. Parents deserve and need to know the full range of reasons why boys are underachieving and, fundamentally, what they can do to help prevent disaffection and underachievement in their boys. This highly informative and highly practical book contains strong messages about the need to develop independence in boys, the importance of male role models within the close (and extended) family and what to look out for in school, including signs of peer pressure and limiting negative self beliefs. It gives advice on how best to support boys in their learning and in developing self esteem.

Table of Contents:
Telling it like it is Explaining the full picture, how boys are doing nationally in schools and why it is happening. The barriers to boys' achievement and how parents can help break them down The major section, with practical strategies showing parents how they can contribute to breaking them down: Too much pressure pre-school Lack of independence Starting school linguistically less developed Physiological needs not met Negative attitudes to writing Limited interest in reading Inability to plan and prepare effectively Peer pressure The laddish culture Emotional Intelligence issues Understanding his preferred way of working Poor reflection skills Low self-esteem and limiting self-beliefs Lack of positive male role models Let's hear it from the boys Extracts from a wide range of interviews with boys about what THEY think the issues are and what they think the solutions might be. Boys are the REAL experts, not only do they know the root causes of their dissatisfaction with school and their subsequent poor performance, they also know what needs to be done. How parents can help with homework, revision etc How schools are responding to the problem

About the Author :
Gary Wilson is one of the country’s leading experts on raising boys’ achievement. He is a freelance education consultant, speaker, trainer, author and former teacher with 27 years of experience. Gary has advised and delivered training in over 1,000 schools and over 30 local authorities across the UK, and was Chair of the National Education Breakthrough Program on Raising Boys' Achievement for over a decade. His bestselling books include Breaking Through Barriers to Boys’ Achievement and Boys Will Be Brilliant.

Review :
"A highly informative and practical book about the need to develop independence in boys" - Bookseller Buyers Guide, 2008 Mention -Book News, November 2008 "This is far from a dry read, and the text is interspersed with examples of what to do and how to do it, quotes from boys themselves, as well as bullet points that reinforce the main points of each section. There is a particularly topical and interesting section on the role of positive male role models and the influence that this can have on a boy's success. There is enough relevant material contained within this slim volume to make this an appealing and informative read for parents and carers of boys." Community Practitioner, April 2009 "...aims to highlight what can be done to improve boys' performances in school...features responses from numerous boys on a variety of issues...allows the reader to get different perspectives on a problem." SedEd, October 2009