My teenage son and I don’t have the greatest relationship right now so I jumped at the chance to get my hands on an early copy of this book (I pre-ordered!). There are so many practical tips in this book that I really have hope for my future. One of my favorites was ‘20 Ways to Make Your Son Feel Loved’. Number 13 is “Encourage him to dream about his future and tell him you want to dream with him. Then listen and do not judge’. Do not judge. I can’t tell you how many times my son has said things to me, and the thoughts in my head are not very “parent-like”. I’m so thankful for this book, even without finishing all the way.

Mom blogger, Monica Swanson, put together a guide for navigating a household of boys, built on a foundation of love, trust and respect. A mom of four boys herself, she offers topics that many moms struggle with such as technology, relationships, manners, religion, bullying and other modern topics. The book also offers links to her website with additional tools such as chore charts by age and conversation topics for dinner, that will have you taking notes.

I didn't think it was possible to 1) enjoy reading a parenting book, 2) devour a how-to book so quickly. Topics such as working teachable moments into your day had me taking notes and looking for ways to work her advice into my everyday. Monica gives practical real world advice in a humble way, and makes you feel that she not only has experience, but can relate to the challenges every boy mom has. Reading Monica's book it was hard not to feel that not only are you not alone, but perhaps with the right advice being a boy mom may not be so hard after all. If you are a Boy Mom you MUST read this book!

Monica Swanson is passionate about her subject, and a particular benefit of her book is the resource list in the appendix. She has researched extensively. Monica's methods may not be suitable for or yield the same results in many families, but the book can be an encouraging reminder of the ideal we would like to shoot for.
I appreciate her enthusiastic voice on this topic, and I appreciate her reminders that the good news of God is grace, not works.

I was provided an advance copy of this book for review.

#netgalley

Have you ever feel that? that you know nothing about boys? that is what I felt being a mom for the very first time and the baby was a little boy. Since then I like to read about motherhood and boys. I really enjoy children, and hanging out with moms. This writer mom just has boys and she is unique. Have you ever listened to/read her? I bet you have. One of the things I knew I wanted before having kids was this: I want to be there, I want to enjoy them, I want to see them grow, I want to enjoy their childhood, I want to be involved in their life until they become responsible, mature, happy adults. I mean, they will be dads someday and have their own families... I´m thankful for other moms sharing their stories, ideas, resources, and practical wisdom to be the kind of mom God designed us to be.

Boy Mom entered my life at the perfect time! I am a mom of 4, and the youngest 3 are boys. My oldest son is in the tween years with the youngest still a toddler. Parenting is hard work, yet parenting intentionally is what I strive for and is something Monica models so well. Monica has traveled this challenging road of raising boys without much to reference and glean advice from in the early years of her journey. Yet, she has navigated these waters for 18+ years and has shared with the boy moms of the world how she has paved her own way to raising happy, responsible, trustworthy, compassionate boys through her blog, podcast and this must have book for all boy moms! She covers topics such as relationships, integrity, work ethic, social media, faith, character, physical and emotional health, boundaries, discipline, money management and so much more! She shares her own advice, struggles, wisdom and research on these topics throughout the pages of this amazing book. I love that Monica leaves us with questions to reflect on and answer at the end of each chapter so that we can determine what areas we need to focus on and how to apply what she's shared to raising our own boys. I also love that Monica shares many resources at the end of each chapter as well. I will be printing out a number of them (like the conversation starters, ways to make your son feel loved, etc.) . This is a must read book for all boy moms and is one that I am sure to be referring to often for many years to come! I am gifting this book to several boy mom friends too!

I could not read it fast enough! I was just soaking it all up!!! Monica shares her parenting and experiences with her sons. I love that she shares her real life examples! As a mom of a young boy, I find them so helpful to see different ways I can help direct him to God and to help him grow! I love the places where she talks about showing grace because of the grace God gives us! Also, some of my other favorite parts include how she talks about helping them see that they are defined by God and seeing them develop noble character. Thankful for such a heartfelt book!

As a mother of a son, I find there are far too few books on raising future men. The ones that do exist often miss the mark especially for women of faith trying to raise their sons in the faith. This book was an excellent step in the right direction. Often I'm asked for recommendations on this very topic, and I'm excited to be able to recommend this book in the future as it addresses the subject in wonderful detail and from a gospel-centered perspective. I hope this book's influence is wide-spread for the good of moms, their sons, and our whole culture.

Insightful book for boy mom's, a term of endearment for those mom's raising boys. As a mom of both a boy and girl, I can see both the differences while raising them, as well as the fact that they equally have challenges. Monica shares her own experiences, sites several different sources while discussing important issues on raising boys. What kind of men do we want them to become? Respectful? Kind? Compassionate and caring? She provides advice, shares stories and offers encouragement for us moms raising boys to become amazing men. It's interesting, that what she shares I've found in my own experience with my son. As they grow older, it isn't so much about keeping them alive as I've stressed about when he was a baby. The focus shifts more to offering security, love and at the same time boundaries. If you're raising a boy, I recommend grabbing a copy of Boy Mom. And don't forget to read the Boy Mom Manifesto at the end. It's our commitment to our sons, to offer the very best we can in a nurturing environment. My goal is to raise a boy into a man that will make this world a better place. I received a complimentary copy from Waterbrook. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

As a Mom of two men, I can honestly say this is a must read for all Moms of boys. Written with a loving heart, Monica writes with honesty and humor about raising boys. At the end of her book she writes this motto. It says, "I am a Boy Mom. My greatest goal as my son’s Mom is to raise him to be fully prepared to launch into the world as a man, in every positive sense of the word." I couldn't agree more. The bonds between mother and son (or sons) is a unique dance of love, trust and respect. We as Moms are their first representation and mentor of the female being. Much of how they perceive and react to the outside world comes from us. The advice through each chapter of BoyMom is directed toward achieving this goal.

I want to thank Waterbrook and Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
This was a very nice book with good advice for mothers of boys. There are some good words of wisdom from a mom who has been there and found several different ways to deal with her children effectively. I felt when reading the book that while the advice was good I have to warn that not everything works for every child I have found. Each child takes a different approach. No cookie cutter technique works for all.kids. However it is a guide you could.work with.

A must read for any mom - but boy moms especially! Great advice for raising God-loving boys. There are so many great nuggets in this book that you will need to highlight and read again to remember! This is a great tool to have especially now with the way the world and culture is teaching our children to act!

I have to admit it took me a bit to get into this book. Not because of the content or the author. The last few books that I have read I instantly connected with the author on a very deep level. With Monica, I had to settle into our differences to glean more from the book.

As moms in general and boy moms specifically, it's important to be intentional about parenting. We need to step back on a regular basis to look at our family. This book is a great tool to help you do that. It gives you questions and guideposts to help you navigate parenting. I found chapters 8-10 on technology, inspiring young minds, and being body wise to be the most helpful. If you have boys living at home, there is something in here for you.

This is not a how-to book. You cannot pick it up and make everything work for your son. You have to put in the work discerning what your family needs. Boy Mom will help you focus, uncover blind spots, and give you a better sense of the mom you were made to be for your son. I would encourage you to read it as you continue to become the best mom you can be.

While I did receive a copy of the book from the publisher, the words are my own. No one tells me what to think. ;)

Boy Mom is an excellent book. As a Mom is a teenage soon I felt like I was being mentored on how to parent him. The author approaches topic after topic in a practical and helpful way. The author has a website . She is a blogger and gives podcasts on helpful topics in regards to raising boys. She opens each chapter with a topic, ties it into scripture and Biblical principles. She closes each chapter with questions and gives a link to her website with other helpful information. She encourages parents to guide by example. She teaches parents how to lead their child in a relationship with the Lord. She give the link on how to have a relationship with the Lord. She tells the importance of manners and how they get help boys to have the right motives in life. Another issue she discusses is sibling challenges. She teaches the importance of the siblings being friends and working out their difficulties. Children learn life skills by interacting in the positive times and negative times. She tells the parents to let the siblings learn how to resolve conflict by working it out.Moms will find huge help with many topics and challenges by reading this book. I would highly recommend it for a Mom's group and for Mom's to read it on their own. It will give them guidance and direction. I appreciate Monica for taking time to write this amazing book. I appreciate Netgalley and the publisher for making this book available to me to read and review. I am not obligated to give a positive review.

This book had quite a bit of good info, but after the first few chapters, I felt like the focus shifted to being more about religion and how the religious focus of a son's life will get him through growing up. I just hoped for more tips. There were a lot of family stories in the book, but I would have liked to see more explanation of the steps taken rather than just explaining the outcome. Each chapter did end with good "Make It Personal" questions to reflect on and then another few pages of additional info on the topic. All of those had links to the author's website to print. The book ended with the Boy Mom Manifesto, which summarized everything in a couple of pages. The author is a married Christian mother, living in Hawaii and homeschooling her four sons (ranging in age from 18 to 7), so her situation is a little unique in multiple ways.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this book be cause I am a mom of daughters but am now a grandmother of a boy. I know it stAtes its for boys but it has lot of good advice for any mom in my opinion.

I loved that the author encouraged consequences instead of helping your children out too much such as bringing forgotten homework to school. Instead, the child should get the lower grade even though it is hard for us to watch them fail, it's to help them learn.

There are many references to the bill left and her personAl experiences with her own children. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchAnge for my personal opinion.

Boy Mom has been such an encouragement to me as we enter into a new season of parenting. This book which talks about raising boys into young men who love God and have integrity and so much more. She talks about the struggles that we have with our boys on a daily basis and to know that we are not alone in these struggles and to have ideas of what worked for moms who have been there gives me such hope for what might work for my family or ways I can tweak it for my family.
This book is full of great resources for prayer, blogs, conversation starters and stories from her own children and her own experiences.
I will cherish this book and definitely recommend this to other boy moms especially those going into the tween and teen years.
I love that she says in the book that her husband's mother had him praying for his future wife by age 5 and how her boys did the same. That really opened my eyes to amazing ideas of starting that with my 5 and 8 year olds right now and how that had helped her boys in their view of women, their choices about dating and staying pure for marriage. This book is just full of so much encouragement and so many gems to hold onto. I just cant say enough great things about it.

Such a truth bomb book that had me calling out "Yes sister!" Monica makes you feel like she is right there in the trenches and is speaking directly to you! Such good wisdom on how to raise my son through all the curveball life throws at me.

This is a very good book with lots of good points for parents of small boys and teenagers. .It was an enjoyable read and I recommend this book to everyone that has a little boy in their life. Thank you WaterBrook & Multnomah via NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

I love the insight that this mom gives. There are a lot of aspects in a boys life that you can’t anticipate. A great resource for mothers everywhere! This is not a theological book, but more a guide for day to day life with a boy under the same roof.

July 24, 2019
BOY MOM - Monica Swanson

I received this free book for the purpose of review from Net Galley.

Monica Swanson is an outstanding author and I totally enjoyed this helpful book dedicated to BOY MOM. As a mother of four boys and nine grandsons I totally related to her book and the many things she did to shine the light for mothers of boys.

Mom, she does point out that the best thing you will do for your boy is to first have a relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior, spend valuable quiet time with God daily and love Dad. She is not perfect and does an excellent job of not expecting excellence out of you.

First, I must say her most important subject she points out is the value of leaving a legacy for boys and how mom has a large influence on her sons. While we think Dad is the primary example for a boy and he is, Mom sets the stage for her boy in the very early years. It is Mom who shows nurturing, compassion and kindness. She models for her boys words to express feelings and gives him the freedom to express his feelings.

Be strong Mom, read, study your boy, pray for your boy, love his dad and never never give up. Many times you will not know the impact on your son until he is older. It is never to early to start and never to late to correct course.