Dr. Ted Zeff's book The Strong Sensitive Boy: Help Your Son Become a Happy, Confident Man is a valuable resource for parents, teachers, coaches and family members of boys who are highly sensitive to feelings, sounds, lights, tastes, etc., and not as interested in roughhousing or violent movies and games.
Dr. Zeff helps you learn how to respect the sensitivity and support your highly sensitive son so that he understands who he is and chooses to be true to himself and not feel pressured by our society's standard definitions of masculinity. It's no secret that our culture has a specific belief about what behavior is acceptable for boys: repress emotions, act tough, show you are strong, anger and violence are normal reactions.
A combination of research and anecdotal information, The Strong Sensitive Boy includes stories from highly sensitive men who were bullied by parents, teachers, and other children. The stories are deeply moving and powerful. The book features a helpful list of resources and suggested readings but my favorite parts were the specific examples on how to handle sports, school environment, sharing this information with a teacher, helping your son make friends, and disciplining with gentleness. I also appreciated the special chapter for dads who are raising sensitive boys that talks about how to understand how the dad's own beliefs about being a man may not be serving the needs of his son.
If your son is old enough, I recommend that you read this book with him so that he can better understand himself and see high-sensitivity as a gift and not a curse. Sensitive boys and men are strong and in touch with their emotions. Other common traits of sensitive men include creativity, strong values, compassion, and intuition, not to mention good communication skills and empathy. As parents, teachers, and those who want the best for a sensitive boy, we can work harder to nurture his character and individuality to encourage more self-confidence and higher self-esteem.
Resources:
Read more at Dr. Ted Zeff's website>>
Buy the book on Amazon>>
Questionnaire to determine if your child is highly sensitive: http://www.hsperson.com/pages/test_child.htm
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