Packaging Boyhood

From the lat­est Dads & Daugh­ters newsletter:

Our friend Dr. Mark Tap­pan is co-author­ing a book, to be called “Pack­ag­ing Boy­hood” about mar­ket­ing to our sons. The book aims to “scru­ti­nize the world of boy pow­er, and the ways media and mar­keters’ stereo­types about how to be a man reach way down into the lives and enter­tain­ment of younger and younger boys.” Mark is writ­ing it along with Dr. Lyn Mikel Brown and Dr. Sharon Lamb, co-authors of the 2006 book Pack­ag­ing Girl­hood: Res­cu­ing Our Daugh­ters from Mar­keters’ Schemes.

To gath­er data for “Pack­ag­ing Boy­hood,” these pre­em­i­nent schol­ars on the role of gen­der in the emo­tion­al, psy­cho­log­i­cal and cul­tur­al devel­op­ment of our chil­dren put togeth­er a very inter­est­ing online sur­vey at www.packagingboyhood.com. Par­tic­i­pa­tion by dads and/or their sons will be worthwhile.

Dads & Daugh­ters is a great resource for par­ents, edu­ca­tors, or any­one else who cares about chil­dren. This is the first time I’ve seen them post some­thing son-spe­cif­ic, but much of their mate­r­i­al is impor­tant regard­less of the gen­der of your child(ren). Maybe we’ll see a Dads & Sons before long, or some­thing similar.