Very funny essay!

I'm looking at a jar with a mad black widow spider scrabbling around on the bottom right now--my son captured it off of the back patio grill yesterday. He's 18. It will only get worse for you.

If you want help turning your boys into men, then I have a suggestion for you.

Scouts.

Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. Nothing else even comes close. It is what Scouts does. Boys into men.

Little known fact, of the twelve men who have walked on the moon eleven were Eagle Scouts. 'Nuff said.

Congratulations, Tony! Happy (soon to be) Father's Day!

A splendid essay in the WSJ, of a piece with your other winsome and moving reflections on there in the past week or so. I've ordered your "pamphlet" (the pejorative connotations of which term seem to me to undermine the expected hefty wisdom it will contain) and look forward to reading it.

Great article Tony!
God blessed me with 3 daughters and I was wondering what I was missing with sons but my grandson (2 yrs old) in filling me in...last week my daughter was telling me (another) story of his utter fearlessness (which I prefer to lack of sense!) - she just caught him as he attempted to ride his tricycle down the deck stairs! And I do agree completely with Greg - scouting is it. My son-in-law (the boy's father) was (is!) an eagle scout, a scout master and an Air Force pilot (currently deployed to Kuwait). With God's help I'm confident my grandson will turn out alright...and I'm sure your's will as well for you know the true meaning of manhood.

Terrific essay, Tony! I had the good fortune of being raised by a manly father (who was himself raised on a farm - 'nuff said) and also the blessing of helping to raise two daughters, who (in spite of our frequent failures) have both become feminine, godly women - and married manly, godly men! What made me a good father? My daughters.

Oh, and by the way, both my brother and I are Eagle Scouts.

Tony,

Your WSJ piece was really great. It made me wish that my dad had made a bigger effort when I was a boy. He just wasn't there for me in many of the important ways. I think that he was just afraid he would screw up. We are friends now, but I'll always know that I missed something.

Nice article
Works for girls too. My only child, a daughter is now 23. I taught her how to throw a baseball and now the story. She currently plays on one of the rec league co-ed softball teams. Several of her team mates are ex-baseball players (college mostly) so they know the game. During one of the games she was playing 3rd base and one of the jocks on the opposing team hit a hot one to third, which she fielded nicely and then threw him out at 1st...he was strolling down the base path not expecting her to field the ball, much less throw him out. Took him down a few notches. The first baseman is one of the ex-college players and he told the surprised hitter that "she plays 3rd because she regularly throws out guys like you."
Tom Bidgood

That was beautiful, Tony. Thanks. You have no idea how well I can relate to that (and not just as the Dad to 3 boys).

Complete agreement in this corner: having kids pushes us all to be better people, and even though none of us achieve perfection, the striving part is the important part.

I'd be lost without them.

And congrats on the pamphlet, the recent pieces in World mag, and the WSJ! I can say I knew you when! Sort of, in an online-kind-of-way. ;-)

Not much more to say that, "Greart article in WSJ." Your site is going into my RSS feeds.

A funny and touching article, Tony. My boys are now 25, 23, and 21, still growing and still delighting and teaching their dad. Enjoy every day as yours grow.

Best Wishes,

h

Thanks Tony for the great article. As a father of three boys (7, 3 and 7 months) - very similar to the way you describe yourself - I found it very refreshing. I learn something from them every day and hope that they will learn from me and my male peers how to become 'manly' but gentle-men.

Great job Tony. My boys love coming over to your house because of all your boy's cool toys--guns, swords, bow and arrows. They feel ripped off getting their two older sisters hand-me-down toys.

That was a great article! And I'm enjoying your blog, too. I have two boys - 12 and 13 - and it is rewarding to see them growing into adolescence. I come from a family of five boys, so the 'boy environment' is familiar and comfortable for me.

Your article is just lovely. Given the way the world is, thank you for staying with your family and being a father to your sons.

We raised five boys into men. One is on the cusp, but at 17 has been away at college for a year already and thinks of himself as an adult, although he would also catch any creature he could get his hands on. Of course, so would his brother who is ten years older. My husband was like you, but I caught wild things and my husband pretended to have no fear, which is really good enough.

I truly hope there are more men like you who choose to be fathers, despite whatever they missed in the way of fathering themselves. There have been an awful number of absent fathers in the last couple of generations. They must not understand what they are missing.

Great article, I have to agree with some earlier posts, Scouting is something you have to check out. Go to http://www.scouting.org/ and find your local council and list of contacts in your town. Many Pack have a summer program of activities so you don't have to wait until the fall and it's a very family oriented program. At some point in the future write a story about your 1st Pinewood Derby experience. :-D Shea

I enjoyed your piece. You're a better father than most, because you're paying attention and you're thinking about what you're doing. You also made me think, again, about why I am not a father: I realized a long time ago I would not do it well, and my children and the people they encountered over their lives would pay for my incompetence.

I read the article out loud so my wife could join in on the fun.

I have the same concerns, as my father was gone soon after birth. Mom tried to insert some masculine oversight, but she wasn't built for it, and it ended badly.

So, like yourself, I'm going over a thousand scenarios when my freshly new born son is going to need me to step to the plate and be Dad. Failure is just not an option here, so I better tighten up the jock..because he is watching my every move.

Great article. I shared it with all the men in my church on Father's Day. It's great to see national attention going to someone who has their head on straight about being a father of boys. I hope to do as well raising my son (now 2-1/2).

Well done. I'll only add that as a new father of a baby girl, I plan to instill courage and honor in her as well.