Sarah Ockwell-Smith, the parenting expert and author of How to Raise a Teen, Because I Said So and How to Be a Calm Parent, has just been featured in a special feature by The Times full of her advice on how to raise a boy with emotional literacy.

Subscribers can read the full article here.

From birth we treat boys differently to girls: we hold them less, talk to them less and discipline them more harshly. Society is full of stereotyped masculinity and families often pass down inherited beliefs of what ‘manliness’ should look like.

How to Raise a Gentle Man is a book for any parent or carer who wants to break that cycle and for those who are fed up with boys being blamed for everything. Toxic masculinity doesn’t just hurt women and girls, it hurts boys too.

Sarah Ockwell-Smith, bestselling childcare expert and mother to three young men, argues that the answer to raising kind, respectful and gentle boys is not to ban social media or access to the internet, lay the blame solely at the feet of the incel movement or misogynistic influencers or to introduce reactionary Governmental education policies as a response to Netflix dramas.

The only truly effective way to help our boys is through the way we raise them.

How to Raise a Gentle Man gives step by step instructions for concerned parents and carers who want to get to the root of the problem and help boys to thrive in the manosphere. Whether you’re a parent to a newborn, a teacher to an eight year old, or raising a teenager, you’ll find plenty of advice here for you.

How to Raise a Gentle Man is out now. Grab your copy here or, better, via your local bookshop or bookshop.org.

Follow Sarah on Bluesky @sarahockwellsmith.bsky.social and on X @TheBabyExpert.