One of the most important parenting books of the last two decades is Boys Should Be Boys by Meg Meeker, MD.

At a time when many parents, schools, and institutions seemed increasingly uncertain about boys, Meeker brought a calm, grounded, and compassionate voice to the conversation. Drawing on her experience as a paediatrician, she argues that boys are not “defective girls” needing constant correction, but boys with their own developmental pathways, strengths, vulnerabilities, and needs.

What makes this book stand out is its combination of warmth, practicality, and moral clarity. Meeker writes candidly about discipline, fatherhood, risk-taking, aggression, technology, schooling, peer pressure, and the importance of purpose and boundaries in a boy’s life. She consistently emphasises that boys thrive when adults believe in them, challenge them, and guide them towards responsibility and maturity.

The book is especially strong on the importance of fathers and male role models. Meeker argues that many boys are desperate for direction, structure, and affirmation from adults who genuinely care about them. In an era increasingly characterised by confusion around masculinity, this remains highly relevant.

Not every reader will agree with all of Meeker’s cultural or religious framing, and some critics see parts of the book as too traditional or insufficiently attentive to broader structural factors affecting boys. But even critics would struggle to deny the sincerity of her concern for boys and families...

Importantly, Boys Should Be Boys helped open the door for a wider public conversation about boys’ education, mental health, behaviour, identity, and wellbeing. These conversations have become far more urgent in the years since its publication.

For parents, teachers, mentors, policymakers, and anyone concerned about the future of boys and young men, this book is still well worth reading...