Walk into almost any school today, and you’ll see it: boys being told, in a hundred subtle ways, that their very nature is a problem. They’re too loud. Too restless. Too competitive. Too aggressive. If they’re not sitting still and coloring quietly, something must be wrong with them.
The phrases we use are damning — toxic masculinity, patriarchy, problematic behavior. And the message comes through loud and clear: There is something inherently bad about being a boy.
It doesn’t stop at the classroom. Media and advertising make fathers look like bumbling idiots. Hollywood pushes anti-masculine agendas, praising movies with girlbosses and trans messaging. Publishers, under pressure to meet ideological quotas, push books that prize grievance or identity politics over adventure and responsibility. Contemporary children’s series feature main characters who are passive, self-absorbed, or perpetually “discovering” new identities — while the daring, loyal, adventurous boy hero has all but vanished.
Taken together, schools, teachers, culture, and publishing form an echo chamber that tells boys, You are guilty before you’ve even begun.
Narrative psychology would predict the result. This is the field that studies how the stories we tell ourselves shape who we are. People build their identities like a story, with characters, conflicts, and resolutions drawn from the tales around them.
When you hand children a story of shame, they internalize it. Some will suppress their instincts until they can barely function. Others will rebel by embracing destructive caricatures of manhood, because that is the only model of strength they see. And some learn to hate themselves and their bodies so much that they embrace transgender ideology, believing escape from boyhood is their only hope of acceptance.
Either way, their true nature is submerged, drowned under a world that demands they be tame, quiet, compliant — and, frankly, feminine. This isn’t just bad for boys; it’s bad for all of us. Civilization needs both halves of humanity, masculine and feminine, yin and yang. Cut one off, and the whole body limps.
So what do we do? We can’t dismantle the whole toxic system overnight. It took decades to build, and it will take decades to dismantle.
But there is something parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, mentors and pastors can do right now for the boys and girls they love: Give children the antidote of healthy, heroic stories.
Tell them stories when they are young. Teach them to read early. Put the best books in their hands, the ones that encourage courage, adventure, sacrifice, and resilience.
Watch the great movies with them. Share television shows that model strength tied to virtue. And most importantly, talk to them about what they’ve read and seen. A story read together and then discussed over dinner or before bedtime lodges far deeper in a child’s soul than a hundred classroom lectures.
This is where grandparents and elders can shine. Reading The Hobbit aloud or watching The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a family creates moments that fight back against the noise of the wider culture. It forges memory, identity, and belonging. It arms children with counter-narratives they can carry into the world, and it especially gives boys healthy models to emulate in their own small lives, ensuring they grow into strong, good men.
Here is a starting list of books and movies, arranged roughly by age appropriateness. It is not exhaustive, but it provides a foundation — something parents and grandparents can build on as they introduce their children to stories that nurture rather than undermine.
For younger readers (ages 5–8):
At this stage, the simplest stories carry the biggest lessons. Little boys don’t need moral lectures—they need imagination, loyalty, and persistence.
- The Little Engine That Could (persistence)
- Winnie-the-Pooh (friendship and imagination)
- Frog and Toad (virtue in small adventures)
- Aesop’s Fables (moral lessons made simple)
For middle childhood (ages 8–12):
Once they can tackle chapter books, give them adventures that stretch their courage and expand their horizons.
- The Chronicles of Narnia (sacrifice, honor, faith)
- The Hobbit (adventure and growth)
- Treasure Island (courage and temptation)
- Howard Pyle’s The Adventures of Robin Hood (justice and loyalty)
- Howard Pyle’s The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (nobility, courage, and championing the weak)
- Hatchet (resilience and self-reliance)
For teens (ages 13–18):
By the teenage years, boys are ready for stories that wrestle with complexity, temptation, and the cost of maturity.
- The Lord of the Rings (duty, friendship, resisting corruption)
- The Odyssey (perseverance and cunning)
- The Three Musketeers (loyalty and daring)
- The Red Badge of Courage (fear and maturity)
- Johnny Tremain (courage, identity, and the birth of a nation)
Movies and TV for family viewing:
Screen time doesn’t have to be mindless. If you’re going to sit down together, make it count. These classics feature heroism, sacrifice, and strength used rightly.
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
- Star Wars (original trilogy)
- The Lord of the Rings (film trilogy — more accessible for restless or distracted boys, though the books remain essential)
- The Iron Giant
- The Incredibles
- The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938 version)
- Old Westerns (Shane, High Noon, The Searchers)
These stories are not “mere entertainment.” They are the scaffolding of the soul. They teach boys that their energy and strength are not shameful but essential — when channeled through honor and sacrifice. They remind girls that courage, loyalty, and virtue are not limited to one sex. They give both boys and girls heroes to look up to, adventures to imitate, and virtues to practice. And parents and grandparents can discuss the stories later, ensuring their young ones absorb the great lessons inherent in these works.
This is also why publishing new works matters. The classics are irreplaceable, but children deserve fresh stories that carry the same moral weight. There are writers and publishers out there doing this work right now. Steve Stinson, for example, produces phenomenal picture books for younger children that celebrate virtue, imagination, and family. Other conservative publishers and filmmakers are striving to create the same kind of healthy cultural soil, even if the liberal media do everything possible to ignore them.
I count myself among them. My company, Conservatarian Press, recently published And Justice for All, Even Redcoats by David and MaryLu Barrow. It’s a Revolutionary-era tale that models courage and nuance, reminding readers that even the “enemy” deserves fairness and humanity. I am only one of many examples of creators working outside the behemoth publishing industry to give boys the kind of stories that build rather than tear down. Look for them, and you will find them. Support them, and they will grow in numbers.
Related: Believing the Lie: How Stories Destroy Truth and Fray a Nation
In an age when everything seems aligned against healthy masculinity, stories are the weapon and the shield. The war on boys can be resisted — one book, one movie, one shared story at a time. But that resistance takes more than just parents passing down classics. It means standing behind the writers, publishers, and filmmakers who are daring to make new ones.
If we want strong men tomorrow, we must give boys the right stories today, and we must support those who are fighting to tell them.
*Creators: Please link your works in the comments below. You have an audience hungry for your stories!
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