Parenting | Talking About Men's Health™

Posts Filed in Category: Parenting

Advocacy, Family Issues, Medical Issues, Parenting

World Autism Awareness Day

by Editor April 7, 2011 Comment

This post is dedicated to all of the amazing girls and boys who live with autism and their families. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) “ASDs (autism spectrum disorders) occur in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups, but are four times more likely to occur in boys than in girls.” Below I am posting one of my favorite videos of an amazing autistic boy.

Domestic Violence, Family Issues, Fatherhood, Parenting, Psychology, Suicide

Case Studies in Flying Above the Father in Literature & Film: Hemingway’s Robert Jordan

by Editor December 4, 2010 Comment

As a follow up to last week’s post The Importance of Father-Son Proximity and Initiation into the Masculine Culture I wanted to use a a classic novel to demonstrate the recurrent theme of the absent father causing sons to try to “fly above” the father in United States’ culture. As mentioned last week, the themes to be discussed are ideas from Robert Bly’s book Iron John: A Book About Men suggested to me and discussed with my friend Will Stewart. I will attempt to introduce two new concepts: Shame and ashes. Continue Reading

Family Issues, Parenting, Well-being, Workplace Issues

The Importance of Father-Son Proximity and Initiation into the Masculine Culture

by Editor November 28, 2010 4 Comments

Friday after Thanksgiving was a lazy, windy, cold and gray day in Washington, D.C. I nearly forgot I had scheduled to meet a friend because he had expressed an interest in getting involved in men’s health issues. I got to our meeting place early, grabbed a hot chocolate to warm up, and a Wall Street Journal. Below the fold on the front page of the Journal was a story, “Dad, What Do You Do at Work? I’m a Leader in Active Safety”. “Must be a slow news day,” I thought. The article has a couple of lines that gave me a wry smile. The author, James Hagerty, lists one company’s description of itself as “‘the global leader in active and passive safety’—or what the rest of us might call brakes and safety belts.” The article basically analyzes the vague semantics used to describe what corporations do. “Slow news day,” I thought again and moved on to North Korea. Continue Reading

Lifestyle Issues, Parenting, Public Policy, Substance Abuse, Well-being

Restaruants banning smoking helps reduce youth smoking

by Gretchen Cullenberg May 14, 2008 5 Comments

The Los Angeles Times reports that restaurants that ban smoking also help reduce the number of youths who light up. (click here for article). When young adults are not given an environment where they can openly partake in an unhealthy habit, they are less likely to continue the behavior. This article is a good example of how a simple policy change can have an impact on the overall health of the people in the community. By eliminating an opportunity to light up, the risk of developing lung cancer can be reduced. More policies need to be implemented in order to cut down on the number of smokers in the United States.