Boying Up: How to Be Brave, Bold, and Brilliant

You already know I am a fan of Mayim Bialik’s books Girling Up (I reviewed it here). I was so excited when I saw she was coming out with the Boying Up for, you know, boys. Bialik writes about growing up, puberty, and sex from a scientific point of view. She is, of course, a neuroscientist in real life as well as the mom to two boys. Her tone is friendly and easy to understand without talking down to kids.

How does she approach sex before marriage? She says, “There are still many people who believe that sex is something you save for marriage, but for many young people in this country there has been a real shift in the last 60 years in how we see ourselves and how we behave sexually…” She goes into religion and how many people still believe waiting to have sex is a good idea. I feel like she has a very balanced approach. Obviously, we talk to our children about sex in our home, as is our job as parents, and I don’t feel like her ideas conflict with what we teach our children.

Bialik also covers consent, which is obviously an important topic in our current culture. Bialik also talks about the importance of education and making smart career choices. These two books are both kept on our shelves for our kids to read.

I recommend them both to all parents. If you are uncomfortable with the topic, go ahead and read the book first so you can have a discussion with your child and be prepared to answer their questions. For more books on this topic check out my post, Great Books to Teach Your Kids About Sex and Reproduction.