Grappling is an excellent method to prevent vagination in boys.
“Surprised” is not really the word I would use to describe my feelings when reading the latest story about the Boy Scouts of America. I suppose “disappointment” or “chagrin” might be more apt descriptors added in with a bit of sadness or malaise.
In case you missed the dozens of different outlets that featured the story, on May 20, 2015, the NY Post published a story highlighting the new rules in the Boy Scouts of America official handbook prohibiting the use of squirt guns and strictly limiting the use of water balloons (yes, water balloons).
The story quoted the BSA manual stating:
“[P]ointing any type of firearm or simulated firearm at any individual is unauthorized”. To continue, water balloons may be used but only if they are no larger than a ping pong ball and “biodegradable”.
To be fair, it seems that pellet-guns, .22 rifles, muzzle-loading rifles and shotguns will remain in the official Boy Scout Shooting Sports curriculum. One has to ponder if boy scouts cannot be educated to tell the difference between shooting someone with a live firearm and dowsing your buddy on a hot summer day with a water-filled toy. This story is not in and of itself the disease of Vagination in modern America, but more a symptom of that malady. Folks, far too many of your fellow citizens are raising their sons to be pussies. It is not my aim to be trite or glib. As a matter of fact, I mean to be frank with you. The United States of America that your great-grandfather or grandfather fought to preserve and defend is eroding from under our feet and we are largely to blame. During the recent unpleasantness, I spent three years teaching Small Arms and Tactics to U.S. Military personnel. The vast majority of our students ranged from age 18 to 21, the age of my own son at the time. What I discovered first hand from working every day of the week with these kids was that we have largely failed to prepare them for the rigors of adulthood and civic duty. What is even more frightening is that the young people I worked with were the uppermost percentage of their peers as they had at very least graduated from Basic Training before they arrived at our Expeditionary Combat Skills School.
3 Methods to Prevent Vagination
Although this article has been rolling around in my head for quite some time, the BSA story forced me to take action. What follows is an extremely thoughtful dissertation of three methods I believe will aid our sons and help them to become men who are worthy of citizenship in the United States of America, not France.
I feel certain that most of you reading this will, by virtue of following Student of the Gun, have implemented some of these, but perhaps not. Understand that, like the Drill Instructor who takes you to the pit or quarterdeck for extra PT, I undertake this mission not with malice in my heart, but with love. Read on MacDuff.
Martial Arts Training
When I say “Martial Arts” I do not mean cardio kickboxing or what passes as Tae Kwon Do in contemporary America. Modern “kids Karate” is like soccer in white cotton uniforms. The best it serves to do is work out some of the hyper-active energy from your little crumb-crunchers.
Boys need to tussle; they need to rough it up with other boys. We know that the liberal indoctrination centers that we laughingly refer to as public schools frown upon boys being boys and tussling with each other. “Use your words little Billy”. Try using your words when a crackhead is smashing your head into the asphalt so he can take your last $20 or when Johnny Jihad has that rusty knife pressed to your throat.
Jarrad & Brad MMA Practice
No, I am not telling you that your son should be a Krav Maga black belt at age nine, but he should also not pee in his pants the first time he is physically accosted by a bully. Your son will have to deal with bullies his entire life. Bullies do not go away when you leave junior high.
Traditional collegiate-type wrestling is a great place to start. Throughout the entire history of man, societies understood this. It is only in our great modern and vaginated state that we cannot understand its value.
From a more traditional standpoint, Jiu Jitsu (Japanese or Brazilian) are both fantastic ways to teach your boys to tussle with other boys in a productive manner. Punching and kicking the air or foam filled pads is fun, but nothing instills genuine confidence in physical abilities like grappling sports. And, unlike boxing, with grappling little Billy doesn’t risk the broken nose and concussion his grandma is afraid he will get.
Farm Work
Yes, I fully understand that the vast majority of you are reading this from the confines of some metropolitan area. I was blessed and consider myself infinitely fortunate that my parents took us out of the city of Detroit and transplanted us in rural Holmes County when I was 15 years old.
Farm Work
Farm work, from a physical standpoint, forces a boy to exert himself like no other type of work can. We had wood burning stoves in the house and if we wanted to stay warm in the winter we needed a woodshed full of split logs before the frost came. You may be familiar with the old saying that a wood burning stove warms you twice; once when you split the wood and once when you burn it.
Taking care of animals teaches responsibility that cannot be learned from a book. The livestock needs to be fed, every single day, morning and evening. The horses and cows do not care if you are warm in your bed or tired. Don’t even get me started on dairy cows.
I recall hard winters when the water pump in the barn froze and I had to haul five-gallon buckets of water, one in each hand, from the house to the barn before high school so the animals would have something to drink.
You think your burger flipping job is tough? Try spending an entire sweltering day in July filling a hayloft with freshly baled hay and straw (P.S. round bales are for pussies. I kid, I kid, calm down). Spend an early spring weekend pitching the manure that built up all winter long into a spreader. Then come and tell me your job at Subway is soooo stressful.
Firearms
Teach your sons to respect firearms just as they would respect the dangers of power tools. Speaking of which, make your son mow the lawn. For Pete’s sake, tell your wife that it is not going to kill your son to mow the damn lawn once in a while. When I was ten years old, I pushed a lawn mower around our yard every week April to October and it was nearly a half-acre. No, I didn’t die.
Jarrad Markel at Tactical Response for Fighting Rifle
Back to guns, teach your kids the 4 Universal Safety Rules as soon as they are old enough to understand fire is hot and razor blades are sharp. Make use of .22 LR rifles and pistols (either you or one of your friends is sitting on 5000 rounds of .22 rimfire, quit hoarding it and teach your kids to shoot). I have personally worked with hundreds of 4H Shooting Sports youth who are now productive adults.
When your son is physically and mentally mature enough, teach them to shoot a centerfire handgun and rifle. As they progress I highly recommend that you have them shoot reactive targets; steel is the most common type. Get your sons up and off of the shooting bench and have them hold the gun in their hands. By this time they should be responsible enough to control their actions and behave in a safe manner. If they violate safety rules, be sure that they understand what they did and why it is important not to behave that way.
Parting Thoughts
Your sons are only going to be children (little boys) for a very short period of time. It is during this time that they learn how to be men. Expecting a boy to magically become a man on his eighteenth birthday is the height of naiveté and silliness.
As I mentioned at the outset, societies throughout the entire history of the world, going all the way back to Greece and Egypt, knew that a boy is a man in training. Train them up right and they will be productive citizens, prepare them for the ugly and unfair world they are about to enter.
Coddling your sons, attempting to shield them from all that is rough, ugly, and dangerous is the greatest form of child abuse you can inflict. I’m not telling you to name the poor kid “Sue”, but stop treating your sons like fragile little babies. I am deadly serious when I tell you that the United States of America cannot survive another generation of man-boys, weak-willed little ninnies who cry and run for their momma when things don’t go their way.
Read Paul Markel’s new book:
Team Honey Badger: Raising Fearless Kids in a Cowardly World available right now.
Paul Markel
Though I was blessed with daughters, I’ve been a lifelong wrestler and coach to this day. The sport breeds masculinity, respect, and an appreciation for hard work. Also, if you don’t like the language in this article, quit being such a pussy and realize your weak minded sensitivities are part of the problem.
Too bad your daughters weren’t blessed with you.
Congratulations. You have daughters, and yet you STILL find yourself unable to cease in the facilitation, & exacerbation of… dun dun dun… RAPE CULTURE! Tell him what he’s won, Bob!
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Pussy&defid=2011203
Check definition of word pusillanimous. Which was shortened to pussy.
I could not agree more. I am so fed up with woosies and the “Softer and gentler” way of raising kids. Well heck- in the work place as far as that goes! My boss is a Marine as well as myself and if we dial it up a notch at work others complain and tinkle down their legs.
Extremely well said. Congratulations.
I have raised my daughters in a similar fashion. And they really dont take much shit off of the other kids and stand up for what they believe in and thats only at 11 and 14. My 14 year old can take any boy in her class so I think I’ve done my job. Good article
Um, “take any boy” eh? Sounds like she’s popular.
Vagination. Nice way to denigrate women. Just because I have a vagina doesn’t mean that I am weak or cowardly.
Oh fucking stop it!
Go back to your liberal site…. If your so dam tuff you shouldn’t be offended. Become the solution, not part of the problem. Everyone is so offended by everything and I’m tired of it….
Telling a man he has a vagina is not a way to denigrate women, it is a way to make the man understand that he needs to “sack up” and stop acting like a little bitch. You know that, so stop acting like it means something different. Part of being a man is treating women respectfully and calling some guy a pussy does not break that rule.
It’s no different than you acting like a dick with this post.
You are that? Its a kitchen. Now get back in it!
I believe the author was rather specific in reference to the current state of males and their lack of manly attributes. Furthermore, I see no denigration towards or about women.
Now, if you are a man and your skinny jeans have forced your nether region into a sort of painful camel toe, then maybe you will take offense.
“Word to your Mother”
Have you seen American Beauty, K S? These guys sound remarkably similar to Ricky’s dad, Colonel Frank Fitts. What a tragedy that a gay man should ever feel so frightened with regard to the reactions of his coming out as to furiously hide his latent homosexuality with outward fits of raging, dunder-headed testerone, homophobia, and blatant disregard for treating women with a modicum of integrity. And for what? So he can sit at the straight kids’ cafeteria table? God damn… Makes me ashamed to call myself a man.
F*ck yeah, misogyny! *Facepalm*
Wow….how did you even find this article? Thank you though for being the prime reason for the writing of this article. By the way, your mangina is showing. Go catch up on Caitlyn Jenner…go on…go….no really….we’re good hear. You can go now…maybe go catch up on what Rachel Madow has to say today.
As a 26 year old hunter and mixed martial artist I love this article. I don’t have any kids but I have raised my nephews and niece to do all of these things. If you are offended by this article then let me be the first to tell you that you are part of the problem this article is addressing.
Completely agree with all of Mr. Markel’s points. My boy shot since 6 years of age, he shot competition in High School and college (with a scholarship), he’s an Eagle Scout and a third year ROTC cadet with Air Assault, Basic Mountaineering and Airborne courses completed…he absolutely never has been or ever will be a pussy…just a little more than proud of him. Daughter is a beautiful young woman; a cheeleader and the toughest soccer player on the field. She also lifts weights and beats her boyfriend at video games. She can kick my son’s ass too… Not sure how either child grew up so tough but…damn proud!
Fucking love it! Glad I’m already doing this and more.
Splendid essay. So true. I learned to shoot as a little chap. Got my first real job, on a cattle farm at age 15. Even at the age of 60, I still work out twice a week in an Aikido/bjj dojo. Hmmmmm…so that’s why I’m such a hard old man, lol. Love helping the youngsters find their inner warrior. Oh…and for the record. My wife’s a retired street cop, and a deadly gunfighter. She has a really great vagina as well.
That’s funny right there, Karl! I don’t care who you are… That’s funny! None of this PC crap that is ruining this country & the epidermis of our future leaders.
How about for your daughter as well? Mine does 2 of the 3 listed and makes most of the boys she competes against cry. Lol.
Although a good start, I argue that the term “Vagination” doesn’t quite cover the gap you described in your post. You can do all of those things and your son can still grow up to be a coward, bully, or pathetic wannabe.
I might add teaching your sons the confidence-building values of looking out for people who cannot fend for themselves or participating in the lives of their family.
A selfish, self-absorbed, and irresponsible boy is a highly immature, unevolved, and immasculated one who is doomed to be alone in more way than one. Men aren’t that 2 dimensional.
So, while your suggestions are darned good, I think what really make a man are the social values/behaviors developed from being in a healthy, whole family. It takes real courage (e.g., titanium balls) to balance being a warrior and a family member … Knowing when to put on and take off the armor (and with who) demonstrates a level of manliness you just can’t fake.
Good luck with the man-making. Real women like myself are genuinely rooting for you because there’s such a shortage and we’re tired of carrying all these pussies. Believe me when I tell you that the bar is set high and we really need formidable partners out there.
What was the line from “300”? “Only a Spartan woman can give birth to a Spartan man!”? Love that. We need strong, sensible women like you around us to watch our flanks against the feminist aggressors who try to emasculate us at every turn.
Without a doubt, I can say this is the worst piece of trash I have ever read. Who the hell do you think you are to tell people how to raise their boys? I never wrestled, worked on a farm, or had experience with firearms as a kid. I’m a union ironworker. My job is recognized as one of the most dangerous in the country. So yea, I’ll say I turned out just fine.
Perpetuating this stereotype that you have to do manly things to be a man is a fucking joke. A man takes care of his family. A man is loyal to those who are loyal to him. A man helps people in need. You don’t need mma, guns or farms to learn that.
Now THAT’S awesome.
Sorry, but being a union ironworker doesn’t make you a man. It makes you a little “not right in the head”. Most of you guys are adrenaline junkies and do really stupid shit on the construction sites of America. You’re mostly not safe, and most of you get hurt, injured, and sadly some of you die on the job. This guy is talking about not coddling your sons. Help them be the men they need to be to take care their lives.
Union worker? So you’re lazy and probably don’t give a shit about the company you work for. You’re just pissed because raising your kids not to be a ferry is going to take real work. You know, the antithesis to union work. Tell me how that pink slip looks when the union that supports your lazy ass bankrupts the company that pays you a ridiculous salary for your crap work.
Are you MENstrating Dave? You seem very sensitive today…
Lost credibility as soon as you said made the comment “perpetuating stereotype” …BTW a man does not go into a tantrum when he does not meet someone else’s definition of a man. Grow some classic quiet self confidence please.
lost credibility when you said “union worker” in my book.
Word, Dave. I legitimately thought this piece was satire.
Dave, it’s not “trash,” but you’re right in that you don’t have to get trained in MMA or firearms, or be raised on a farm to be a man. Prof. Paul is just making the point that what boys can learn from doing those TYPES of activities could go a long way toward reversing the pussification of society that we see all around us.
DISCLAIMER: No micro-aggressions were intended during the writing of this post. If any were inflicted, please proceed to your nearest safe space.
As a new father, former D-1 wrestler, current Army officer, and a guy who graduated high school from rural Oklahoma I couldn’t agree more with your article. I might be slightly biased…. Keep of the good writing that spurns discussion.
Right on David and Thank You for your service. Excellent article that needs to be shared with the rest of America. Although I wasn’t a D-1 wrestler, my Sons and I benefitted greatly from the sport and oldest Son also benefitted from BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu). MMA has proven, time and time again, the advantages to the grappling sports, from Royce Gracie to Dan Severn to the current crop of champions, all with respectable grappling pedigrees. Hauling hay in the hot OK summer was a bonus!
Well said..I’m working on small things for my grandkids as they are 2 & 6..Live on a farm and have livestock, they have learned how to behave around them and both love to ride the horses..And yes the 6 year old is helping to chore..And both love to be on the various pieces of farm equipment..The 6 year old has learned to drive the tractor from my lap and can mow a pretty straight row..I have them at least 3 times a week and involve them in lots of outside activities..The playground with the monkey bars and ladders and such are great as is playground interaction with other kids..The 2 year old is learning coordination skills and can go up a ladder and climb stairs, Grandma wanted to baby and help him, talked her out of that, he has to learn confidence and how to problem solve on his own, and he doing very well…My grandma taught me to shot a .22 around 8 or so and we’ll see how the maturity goes for both boys on when to introduce that..My dad and uncle were both career military officers…I went the EMT/Firefighter and then Police career path..I’m hoping my influence and the plans that I have will give them a well rounded childhood and how to grow up to be solid productive young men..
You are right on target but I have one son and Two daughters and all are trained up well. Just dont forgetc the girls. I will take all three into battle in a heart beat
Well, I take umbrage with the statement about TaeKwonDo being like soccer in white uniforms… My daughter and I just got our second Dan black belts. The test? 3 miles jogging, 500 pushups and 500 situps, all 8 colored belt forms, our black belt form and all 3 white belt forms… You do those forms in between the pushups and situps (and after the running)… That’s Day 1… Day 2 is any random forms the instructor calls out, in addition the form required for your belt. Drills (series of kicks, punches, jumping kicks,…) Usually sparing with 1 or 2 other opponents, disarming and weapons defense technique demonstrations. Breaking techniques, 3 boards min for black belts on up…. Then, after you’re nice and tired, some questions about Korean terms in Taekwondo… I would put my daughter up against any untrained boy in her class.
None of that involves any actual physical contact with another person… which is what the soccer comment was about.
I’m not going to have any expectations of my child, really. If I get a boy, I’d be as happy as I’d be getting a girl. If that girl wanted to be a boy or the boy wanted to be a girl, well shit, I made ’em, I gotta help them do what makes them happy (anything short of, like, murder).
I’ll be damned if they end up a pussy, though. Regardless of what they come out as, and regardless of what they want to be, I’m going to teach them how to be fearless badasses and not take shit from anyone. No great human is ever quoted saying “This offends me”, or anything of the like. As a side effect, my hobby of firearms might roll over naturally, and that’d be great. If it doesn’t, they’ll still learn the truth about guns and the value of having them (see: not raising them to be pussies).
I lost my reproductive bits in a particularly brutal fight, so I’ll either have to adopt or do surrogacy or something. I just wanna have a kid so I can help at least /one member/ of that generation not be a massive looser.
Wrestling revcovers lost souls! Toughest people on the planet!
Ill bet on a wrestler on UFC all day.
As a single mother, I made sure I raised my son to be a man. I put him in wrestling when he was 7 (he was a 5 time State Champion) and I became the Commissioner of his Jr. Wrestling group so I could be there the whole way through. I also became a 4-H Shooting Sports instructor and taught him about, to respect, and to shoot firearms along with my daughter. They also learned to use power tools in 4-H, and have worked bailing hay, milking cows, and harvesting and carting vegetables on a farm. I did not want my son (or daughter) to grow up and not have these important talents. I agree 100% with your suggested methods. I am proud of both of my grown children and feel that they will pass these experiences on to their children. We had a lot of fun and learned a many valuable lessons along the way.
This is great for sons AND daughters.
Excellent advice. We got these covered for our three girls 😉
Trolls and cognitive dissonance aside, thank you for the thoughtful commentary
I think it’s going to take more than that for boys to get their “man-cards” back, a bit of grapplling, farm work and fire arms training is isn’t going to teach them the other important things that boys need to learn to become men. This is leaving out a very important part of the process…The things I learned about who a man should be from my grandfather, that tipped his hat to every lady that walked by him and made sure my grandmother never learned to pump her own gas, was a WWII vet that never talked about the war, or felt bad, because he knew why he was there. He taught me that sometimes, as a woman, you need to slow your pace to allow a man to get a door, rather than making him run…he taught me to give men space to have manners, and that when life starts to get confusing and make no sense, the best place to find a balance is under a tree in nature, where you are the closest to (whatever you concieve God to be)
And my father, that still to this day is the ONLY man that had always kept his word in everything he ever promised he would do, and worked hard everyday on the ranch and at his job and even harder to be a great father (coaching softball, running lines for a school play, teaching me how to cook well, and avoid my mother’s teachings in the kitchen) and making me get back on that pony he bought me from the state fair for the 8th time, until the pony fell over backwards on me and broke my arm…a man that allowed my sister and I to see him cry when he came back after having to shoot a stray dog and all of her puppies because she jumped on my sister, and dug a huge hole in the frozen ground in December to bury my horse whole when she died so that I didn’t have to watch her legs get chainsawed off. He held on through the most horrible pain of his life, to meet his only grandchild, my son, and with his last valid breath made me promise that Mom would always be taken care of. I now will do my best to raise my son in this world where everyone wants a quick fix, everything, including relationships and unconditional love are disposable….and all the men like my grandfather and father are gone.
…women have changed, men have changed and I don’t know if there is any going back…
Now for me to raise a son in this world (a 2 year old deaf son), without a father, without grandparents…of course I worry that he is going to grow up with some warped sense of self, but I will raise him the best I can so that he knows how to plant, grow, cultivate, prepare and eat what he grows in the ground, that hamburger doesn’t come from the grocery store and taking care of the animals is how we eat, that he should never run from a fight, but he should never start one either, and to never point a gun at something he doesn’t intend to kill. That it is alright that his favorite color is pink and he loves to watch ballet before bedtime…when you can’t hear, visually stimulating things hold more weight, and that he will always be different, and that I will never know exactly what it feels like to be him, and that mistakes are important, because they are the only way we grow and learn. And the biggest thing is that all men need one person to think they are perfect…they need the unconditional love that only a mother can give…I will teach my son that to me he is perfect. I don’t agree with your politics, but I think that you have a good point…it just needs to be a bigger point…there is so much more to being a man than what you have outlined in this article.
All of that being said…there is no ONE right way to live, we all do our best and hope that it was enough.
The advice on hard work,chores, and firearms is excellent for girls, as well. I would add personal defense in the form of martial arts (fighting-style; full-contact), as well as distance running. Our 3 girls know how to shoot, how to run, and how, if necessary, to fight off an attacker.
I agree with you – you have to teach boys to be men and hard physical work is very important in accomplishing that. Part of being a man is respecting others. Using female body parts to describe negative attributes is disgusting. That you use such terms and are a former Drill Instructor degrades yourself, your message and your previous profession. You can and should teach boys to be men without misogyny.
I live in Latin America (Dominican Republic) and I can tell the environment here is way harder than USA, and still managed to be a full liberal man. Complaining of carrying water on your farm? Try do it in a city. We call cities “concrete jungles” for a good reason.
Your suggestions are somewhat right. I think every one should know how to fight since the average bully only use experience and natural strength. What gets me to this, bullies are beyond “boys like to tussle”, is a physical and mental abuse that is needed to be stopped as a whole. Speaking of which if you think frenchs are pussies you have never met a french.
As society evolves more civilized men and women are needed, and history has taught us that you can know how to use a gun and farm, and yet be a total slacker. Yes, you can have a really hard temper when you grow up in the city, just with better manners.
There is a million ways to teach children responsibilities and that’s really important as you say they would not become men and woman from one day to another.
I’m with you about all the fear going around exposing boys to guns toys, that will not make them more violent at all.
Nice read. I’m raising a 7 year-old boy and I fight daily to against family members, school, church, society, etc…who try to push values on him that will NOT help him on the road to manhood. He has two sisters and no brothers so he doesn’t get to wrestle with other boys like I did as a kid. I’m thinking of getting him onto grappling or wrestling. I am a boxer. so I disagree with you on your statement about boxing. Slipping a sucker punch while throwing an accurate/powerful jab, cross and a hook in less than a second is sometimes more effective than going to the ground. All-in-all I enjoyed your article.
This is Incredibly dead on. I’ve been in the military for 20 years. That is exactly what is going on. When women give every single excuse in the world why they’re raising a son by themselves and then bring up the men in the PAST from their war vet grandfathers and hard working fathers. It doesn’t erase they’re systematically destroying their boys. It doesn’t matter where you been princess it only matter where your going and especially where your boy is going. You’re not doing him any favors by making him your segregate boy friend. The example of any woman incapable of finding another man for what ever reason is the example the burden you put on your sons. The Spartans knew to take boys away from their mother’s breast at age 7. I have a 9 year old son and all his life I have women tell me what I need to do tame him. I have a just turned 4 year old daughter those same people who told me the curve my son’s specific behavior is now required behavior for my daughter to do to become strong and independent. White males from the age 18-38 are the highest suicide demographics in the military. It has nothing to do with combat. I’ve seen before there was war and with NO expectation of ever seeing combat or have been in combat. “We are a generation of men raised by women. . .” Look at Sandy Hook a young boy with a great deal of health issues had a mother that used him for her own self pity identification. She divorced his father. Had an estranged relationship with her older son and then tried all she could to replace male role models by taking the boy to the range. This boy shot a young pretty 20 something teacher after he shot his mother. He probably had an interest in her, but he would only ever be a “retard” to her thanks to his mother. If our society wants to see reduction of the rates of male sexual predators, suicide, suicide by cop, passive suicide, submission towards an ever over reaching Police State and International threats. THIS is the answer. I have had these EXACT words with my wife and we need in this society. Oh before anyone goes there. I have to say this. I am HISPANIC. My wife is White and my children look my wife not me. I too have to constantly to intervene the harmful suggestions from church members, schools, his cub scout pack, summer camps, sports teams, martial arts studios, et cetera . NO not my son. His job is to grow up to be man who has to be the bear killer. I know this is vulgar to many in our society that this story is feminist heresy. I am so grateful to GOD that I have a wife who doesn’t understand, but is wise and experienced enough to follow my lead in this issue.
” One year in Italy with their eyes open would be worth more than three at Oxford; and six months in the fields with a platyscopic lens would teach them strange things about the world around them that all the long terms at Harrow and Winchester have failed to discover to them. But that would involve some trouble to the teacher.
What a misfortune it is that we should thus be compelled to let our boys’ schooling interfere with their education!”
Grant Allen
The person who Mark Twain coined the phrase “Never let your schooling interfere with your education.”
So basically to qualify as a man, you need to be conservative, straight, preferably white, and blue collar. God forbid you encourage your son to be passionate about dance, art, music, etc.
Thank you for validating his point.
Thank you for validating his point. You don’t get do you? No… you really don’t.
Your reading comprehension is obviously lacking in competence, Tim. Next time you misconstrue someones writings, try not to project your own mindset into what is clearly stated. Simply because your ridiculous examples are not included in the writing does not discount it.
Well Done Pete. Wished you were my neighbor.
Excellent article!
Who is Tim?
Tim, never heard of her.
What does wrestling, farm and yard work, and firearms have to do with being white (or any other color)? Bruce Lee certainly found time for martial arts, and he was a champion cha-cha dancer. History is full of warrior priests, poets, and other artists. (Samurai studied poetry, calligraphy, and flower arrangement, among other arts.) Many military leaders have been well-known for their culture and interest in the arts. Why do you presume that physical and psychological preparedness for life excludes education and an interest in the arts? Have you even heard of the term “Renaissance man”?
It completely boggles the mind that there are STUPID IDIOTS like you in the world, and it’s morons like you that are killing this country. I’d like to know exactly where in this article anything was said about having to be white, straight, conservative or blue collar. You sir have got to be one of the stupidest idiots on this planet. I hope to God that you don’t have sons or daughters and NEVER do. If you do have children,God help them, because if they ever have to depend on you to protect or defend them, then they are SOL.
You can teach your kid about art without also enabling them to be a little bitch. Did you even read the article?
You got it all wrong. ” balance not only for fighting, balance for whole life”
Mister Miyagi
Dance, and all that shit is what balances you and adds the girlyness to give you perspective of the other sex.
Outstanding article! I raised 4 boys as a single parent at one point. They Wrestled. Played Football, Baseball, Hunted. I am blessed with Respectful, Honest, Successful Men who are good citzens and know our Father God… and are Patriotic Citizens that are pretty handy with numerous fire arms.
Professor Paul is spot on. While there are those that choose to believe otherwise because the professor hurts their fragile feelings, he is far from being the only person that feels that men need to satisfy certain animal instincts to fulfill their destiny as a man. To learn more, read the book Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul by John Eldridge. Maybe his gentler comments will make you see the light.
I was introduced to hard work and martial arts growing up as well as Japanese doll making and flower arranging. As I grew up in Japan there was little gun training. I like to think I turned out okay. I have been training my son with firearms, self defense, reloading, tech and how to use tools since he was 3. Kids are sponges for knowledge and take your lessons to heart. I impart to all my children what a good person is and make it known that I expect them to act accordingly. So far they have been civil people and my son could skip two grades if he wanted to. These lessons in masculinity give your child the tools to do good things. Training a victim or ignoring them while hoping for the best is what got this nation in the state it is in. Get involved. If you don’t someone else might.
Daughter’s too. I have two daughters and I don’t want them growing up to be code pink pussies. I plan to teach them everything mentioned in this article. If they can’t out-shoot future boyfriends and husbands, then I will have failed.
Oh so true. Thank you
Thanks for the article, someone had to say it! My father who is a Vietnam veteran taught me to shoot from a young age, I took martial arts classes most of my life, & though I didn’t work or live on a farm I busted my hump working as a plumber’s helper during my adolescent years. I’m a better man for it today. I have a daughter and do plan to teach her self defense & firearms saftey, and most importantly how to rely on herself.
Those who can only see “politically incorrect” in this piece, ARE the problem. Get the point, and you may help save America
Great article.
I have 4 boys and they don’t wear helmets, gloves and knee pads when they go out to ride their bikes. Yes, I have had trips to the ER for stitches and broken bones but boys need to go through that. From parachuting from the top bunk, to ‘traveling’ on the rail road tracks with their rifles, to their endless bantering about who had the hardest check in hockey…it forms them. My oldest just received two nominations to the Naval Academy and is the senior trainer for altar servers at church….I’m excited to see what the future will be.
Great article!
Jarrad, do you think we can get a jpeg of the Vagination Award to share with those who may deserving?
Excellent article and great advice
Excellent article. Sounds similar to my growing up in Pensacola. My father was a surgeon but he wanted his boys to be self sufficient. My brother and I spent as much time as possible on the family ranch where old men from the 10th Cav. and their children took care of things. We would learn to hunt, cook and care for animals. I would teach the same to my children and am now working on grandchildren. In my youth and through the Citadel I saw subsistence hunting and people that did not have enough meat in their diets. If we dropped a deer it was used for our table or those of someone in need. I would teach my boys eat what you shoot, or give it to someone that needs it never kill just to kill. The article reminded me of those times an dyes I got a few god chuckles too.
Great article! I am a woman and completely stand behind SOTG. This nation has become overwhelmed with weak willed men. Those that have their “feelings hurt” need to buck up and get over it! Put your big girl panties on and get the hell over your feelings. The world will be a better place with less vaginated people in the world. People need to be less vag-tastic and grow a pair.
I am with you on the hay loft really does build a person. I started picking up hay when I was a freshman in high school till I was a Senior in rual Indiana. I was in the cub scouts to Boy Scouts, even spent 3 weeks backpacking at Philmont scout ranch….loved it. My father was a WWII Combat Engineer and had my brother and myself out shooting when we were 5 to 6 years old. My grandkids live in Florida in a condo, When they come to my 5 acres I have horses and dogs and they help me take care of them but mainly get them out in the woods and teach them to track, hunt and how to take care of themselves. Pass it on to our kids…that is what is missing now in this country, most moved to the city and that is when we started going down hill.
Paul, it is quite shocking how many retards pay attention to you. (Yes retard, based on your comments your synaps fire at a slow pace) They have no concept of what an example is. Meaning that what you have written here is not a strict child raising playbook. This article is dead on correct.In order for “boys” to become “men” they need to be taught the responsibility of caring for others and the hard work involved in that. Also it does not occur to people the benefit of being literally tossed around in a scuffle unless you have been through it. Finally, weapons training teaches first hand the power that all people have and how to direct that into an effective manner. I hope this clears things up for those individuals who don’t undetstand.
I love this Paul. I have three boys that I’m doing my best to raise as decent honorable men.
Today’s young are pussies with guns little diapered baby’s. In little league everyone wins a trophy. More shootings from the little shit stains. We need to exterminate the entire next generation of males. Yes it’s to bad we can’t do that. Have to have constant info and several fully armed professionals at each school and college. End of story. There is no conversation left to be had about this. Fences and video period. Scour all social media sites for punk asses posing with weapons. Period. Have to step it up . Again there is nothing else different anyone can say. Period
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Paul you are dead on with this article . I grew up in the country. I had to mow our yard every week. My cousins and I would wrestle or straight out brawl. These experiences taught me the value of hard work and that I could take care of myself in a fight.
Great article! Like you we moved to the farm in my early teens. Lots of hard work and responsibility that served me well through life.
Good article, I enjoyed reading it and reflecting back to my younger days working on a farm and a oil field pulling unit. Truthfully, I have a son that worked hard in the school vacation but nothing that demanded strength to draw a paycheck. Pussy, maybe but I don’t think that I would want him to go through what I did. Good job Student of the Gun.
I agree with the underlying premise of the article but take issue with the lazy, inaccurate, unnecessary, demeaning language. Advocating physical and mental toughness does not require the demeaning language and attitude reflected in his unnecessary use of words like pussy and vagination to describe weakness. I am fairly certain I am tougher than many men, and I have, as a single mother (with the dreaded and reviled body parts), raised a pretty tough young man. Keep the philosophy, choose different descriptors.
You’re not a man, so you aren’t expected, nor will you, know what the fuck it takes to be a man. It would be pointless to try explaining to you because you would never understand. Hate to burst your bubble Mom, but your son did not learn how to be a man from you. I don’t understand why people think they can fill the shoes of “Mom” and “Dad”. That’s not the way it works, and that’s not the way it will ever work. I’m sure that you instilled good values into him and made sure he grew into a good, decent, caring human being. But, he did not learn his manly behaviors from any woman, including yourself. If his father was not around, then he learned his manly behaviors from his fellow peers, along with other men that he knows and looks up to. The fact that you’re so upset over what language is used in the article further shows exactly why boys shouldn’t learn how to be men from soft people such as yourself. Hopefully your son has some strong male figures in his life.
No, I am not a man. I am an strong, independent, capable, tough, intelligent person who finds it astounding that the best way self-described “men” can come up with to illustrate weakness is to describe someone as being like female genitalia. Pussies and vaginas are tougher than you will ever dream of being considering the copious amounts of abuse they have to endure – and they do so and survive and thrive. So the words are not just demeaning to your mothers, sisters, wives, girlfriends and daughters, but they are totally inaccurate. You don’t know me. You don’t know what I have done for my son, or for my daughter. The article encourages putting boys in situations where they will learn certain skills. So those men are doing nothing more for their sons than I have done for mine. I did not disagree with the underlying premise of the article – that boys should be taught certain skills and mind sets. What I took issue with, and what you are apparently too dim to understand, is that using incorrect and lazy language is unnecessary, ineffective, and inappropriate in order to get the point across. Otherwise, I could have shortened this comment to simply point out to you that you are a peckerwood, dickhead wiener who wouldn’t know his head from his ass.
To Lazys6
I raised 4 boys as a single parent after my ex told me.. “There is more to life than raising kids and being married”. One month later she was gone.
I raised my boys with the same value systems my Dad tried to impart to me. Raise little boys to be moral, ethical, Godly, fiercely independent men. Always respect the law, your elders, and be a leader by making contributions to your community and society as well. Don’t lie, steal, cheat, or use anyone to get ahead. Good conduct and study and always aspire to higher education. Always conduct yourself as a gentleman and most especially with women.These values were always expected.
They learned to hunt, fish, wrestle, captain a sailboat as well as fly, parachute out of perfectly good airplanes and be completely proficient in firearms of all types, even Black Powder and bow.
Mission accomplished. I am so grateful for that.
Lazys6….You will never have the right plumbing to really understand what a man has to do to raise men.
You will never be able to play the role of the male any more than I could ever play the role of a female. I always told my young man that I’ll do everything I can to raise them right but I’m not your mom and I will never pretend to be.
In my ex’s absence I never spoke ill of her with my boys. Are required that they always respect her even if they didn’t understand or agree with her choices. And after what they learned later on when they got older. The truth always surfaces.
I would do it all over again.
I’m a mom of 5 sons, my husband and I met while serving in the military together (I am still serving), I LOVE this article! I read it about a year ago, and just found it again. My sons are 22, 17, twins that are 14, and a 13 yr old. Totally agree with the author 100%!