Secure Daughters Confident Sons by Glenn T. Stanton—a book review

Gender matters. It makes a difference if one is a male or female. One of the first questions everyone asks when someone is having a baby is, is it a boy or girl? Everyone wants to know, because gender matters. Our initial judgments of someone are based on our views of maleness and femaleness. How we perceive someone else has to do with them being male or female. Glenn T. Stanton discusses the differences in boys and girls. Even if a parent has what has been termed a “tomboy,” she will still possess some female qualities and go about life in feminine ways, though it may be more subtle. As a somewhat “tomboy” myself, I was skeptical at first about this book, but the way Stanton explains in great detail the differences in males and females, I do have to say that I do possess the female qualities more so than the male ones. The first part of the book discusses these differences and how to help our children grow into the men and women God has created them to be.

The second part of the book focuses more on the role of the parents. Parents need to teach their children how to be boys or girls. Responsibility is put on parent to teach. Children need both a mother and a father. They see different aspects of their boyness or girlness by having both parents. A girl can learn a lot from her father about being a woman just as a boy can learn a lot from his mother about being a man. Parents are an example to their children of these qualities, especially in how they treat each other. Children also need to witness built-in qualities that are specific to each parent that are prevalent across each gender. For example, dads tend to roughhouse and be more physical with their children, encouraging them to prepare for what might come in the future. Moms, on the other hand, tend to nurture and protect their children, trying to keep them from ever getting into harm in the first place. Parenting styles may be different because of this, but that does not mean one parent is wrong. Children need both of these aspects to grow up to be healthy adults. This concept became incredibly real to me through this book. Just because my spouse does things differently, doesn't mean he's automatically wrong. We need to work together in the areas of discipline, play, and so forth, to give our children a healthy balance in life.

Stanton gives many personal examples from his life, so he is easy to relate to. He includes many studies that have been done on subjects pertaining to this book, including scientific studies that aren't necessarily Christian research, which helps solidify his writings. He also uses many biblical principles to validate his points. This was a great book with helpful insights for anyone with children desiring to raise them to be the men or women God created them to be.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.