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White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group, Kansas City, MO, USA

Culture Sets Boys Up to Be Violent

A research study done in France and United States looked at the way preschoolers played in McDonald's restaurant playgrounds. French children meeting one another as strangers have 100% more physically affectionate gestures with one another than do US kids, and US kids have 50% more aggressive gestures. This indicates that US kids are more aggressive at a very early age.

Dr. Michael Thompson, co-author of "Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys" maintains that it is the way boys (and to some extent girls) are raised in America that sets them up to be violent, rather than the violence found in popular culture. He maintains the problem is that boys in the US are held to an impossible standard of manhood, which results in them failing to develop emotional literacy. Dr. Thompson believes that both parents and teachers need to help boys cultivate emotional awareness and empathy to overcome their current emotional mis-education. To learn more, check out "Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys", currently available in paperback for $14.00 and discounted on Amazon.com to $10.50.

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