Raising Boys Under Siege
Raising Boys
One of the most controversial stories in the history of Sunday Night this weekend. A plea from a famous dad and some surprising supporters to have a national discussion about how we are raising boys today. Mambo founder Dare Jennings, who entered fatherhood in his 50’s, firmly believes that in today’s world just being a man is a problem: “As men our noses are rubbed in our bad behaviour… and it’s sort of just created a culture where it’s just too easy now for women to blame men for everything.” He says the kind of adventurous activities he enjoyed as a kid are now considered too dangerous – the pendulum has swung too far. It’s a view shared by clinical psychologist Bettina Arndt, who says there has been a shift away from dads having a role in how their sons are raised because in many families mothers are now making all the parenting decisions. Reporter Rahni Sadler talks to Australian mums who worry that today’s society is eroding the manhood out of Aussie men, turning them more into females by constantly telling boys “no” – and stopping rough and tumble games and playing with toy guns. We travel to the remarkable school where the headmaster sets no rules – pupils ride bikes without helmets, build ramps for their scooters, and can climb trees as high as they like without supervision. It sounds like chaos, and at lunchtime it is. But school discipline and academic results have improved, and kids are learning about risk management. The extraordinary experiment has to be seen to be believed. Finally, in the UK, we meet Sasha whose parents are raising him gender neutral. He plays with dolls and teapots and doesn’t think there is a difference between boys and girls. A thought-provoking story and sure to cause debate.
Under Siege
They go to work prepared to put their lives on the line to protect us, but more and more of our front line police officers are paying a terrible price. In this speci
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