Parenting Boys

It is well-established that playing sports is good for boys.  Indeed, some experts contend that, given  the way they hard-wired, boys need sports and competition because they provide healthy ways to channel their intense physicality and aggression and feel strong.

Mothers can play an important role in parenting male athletes, Moms can avoid reinforcing unhealthy gender stereotypes while providing their sons with healthy ways through sports to channel his aggressive impulses. Here are some steps mothers can take to help their sons have an enjoyable sports experience.

Boys, given the way they hard-wired, need sports and competition. But while sports for boys have enormous benefits, they also can create problems, including pressure to conform to macho gender stereotypes.

Sports are critical to a boy's social and emotional development.  Many of the ways boys behave - particularly their love of sports and rough and tumble play - are rooted in the distant past. Boys are hard-wired to form large social groups in which to compete against other boys and sort out winners and losers.

While the benefits of sports participation are well known, less publicized are the downsides of such participation. A study by researchers at Pennsylvania State University published in the October 2007 issue of American Sociological Review suggests that athletes who participate in contact-heavy team sports, such as football, are more likely to commit violence off the field.