About the Author

Mary Polce-Lynch, Ph.D., is a visiting assistant professor at Randolph-Macon College and in private practice counseling families with Westhampton Family Psychologists in Richmond, Virginia. She lives in Ashland, Virginia. Michael Gurian (foreword) is a family therapist and educator and the author of fourteen books. He lives in Spokane, Washington. While other titles on this subject offer a variety of cultural or biological theories to explain why boys behave as they do, Boy Talk is based on solid developmental research and offers concrete strategies that parents can use to promote healthy emotional expression. Although the main audience for this book is the parents of boys from childhood through postadolescence, we all expect it to be of interest to parents of younger boys and to school psychologists and counselors, caregivers, and mental health professionals who deal with children and families.

Reviews

"Boy Talk is a landmark book that can spring the male trap--the crazy rules of masculinity that stop boys from saying what they feel. It's a blueprint that shows how boys can reclaim their emotions, and in the process become men of strength, independence, and integrity."
--Matthew McKay, Ph.D., author of Self Esteem and Being a Man

"Dr. Polce-Lynch challenges all adults--parents, teachers, coaches, etc.--to find a new and more empathetic way to connect to the boys in our midst by hearing their sometimes silent or coded cries for assistance and relationship. Boy Talk is a must read for anyone involved in the complex world of today's boys and young men."
--William S. Pollack, Ph.D., author of Real Boys Workbook and Real Boys and Director, Centers for Men & Young Men at McLean Hospital Faculty, Harvard Medical School

"Drawing on an array of important research as well as on her extensive clinical expertise, mary Polce-Lynch convincingly illustrates the critical connection between appropriate emotional expression and overall mental health. Boy Talk provides concrete, easy-to-follow instructions for raising emotionally competent boys within a culture that conspires to turn them into unfeeling machines. This is an excellent guide for parents and other adults who want to help boys learn how to navigate an interpersonally difficult world."
--Christopher Kilmartin, Ph.d., psychologist, author of The Masculine Self, playwright and performer of Crimes Against Nature, a solo theatrical performance on growing up in America