About a year-and-a-half ago, I blogged about a Newsweek article, called “The Trouble With Boys,” that discussed the difficulties today’s young males were having in academics, in self-esteem, in behavior, and more(http://www.familymanonline.com/?p=9). At the time (in May 2006), I stressed the importance of recognizing the role of gender for our children and the value of being a positive role model, especially when we are most challenged. More on these thoughts can also be found at my article for Parenthood.com (http://www.parenthood.com/articles.html?article_id=10257).

Now there’s a new story on the debate about contemporary boys (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1647452-1,00.html). David Von Drehle’s hopeful TIME magazine piece, “The Myth About Boys,” contends that, after years of sounding alarms about boys at risk, we are turning a corner and helping our young guys do better at life. Von Drehle even cites the marvelous bestseller, The Dangerous Book for Boys, as a sign that we are rejoicing in boy culture, both old and new(http://www.familymanonline.com/?p=94).

Von Drehle concludes his story by saying, “Worrying about our boys–reading and writing books about them, wringing our hands over dire trends and especially taking more time to parent them–is paying off. The next step is to let them really blossom, and for that we have to trust them, give them room. The time for fearing our sons, or fearing for their futures, is behind us. The challenge now is to believe in them.”

While it can be argued that there are still ample reasons to fear for our boys — and girls, for that matter — I stand with Von Drehle in the attitide of hope. Caring works and, rather than slide further into anxiety and self-fulfilling prophesies of failure, let’s show our boys that we have faith in them and their destinies.

It is very difficult to keep up with all the recalls that affect our families, so I try not be an alarmist. However, the questionable safety of nearly one million units of Fisher-Price toys warrants this notice ( http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07257.html). Due to excessive amounts of lead in the paint of toys that include playthings based on Nickelodeon and Sesame Street characters — sold between May and August 2007 — Fisher-Price parent company Mattel is ordering a voluntary recall.

For more product safety information provided on an ongoing basis, you can visit http://www.recalls.gov/ and http://www.cpsc.gov/.