Bringing Up BOYS is written by Dr. Dobson who is the founder and president of Focus on the Family, a media and educational organization dedicated to the preservation of the home. He draws upon his Christian and psychological training and experience in regards to raising boys. He considers boys as the most vulnerable victims of the crumbling family, the radical feminist attacks on the alleged “patriarchy,” and the moral relativism he sees predominating in postmodern thinking.

Dobson emphasizes the vital need for boys to have an active father in their life, and the book is filled with advice about what he sees as the best way to raise and educate boys. He also gives specific advice for single mothers of sons, a consequence of the increasing breakup of the institution of marriage and family, which he views an unfortunate and difficult but not hopeless.

With frequent references to the scripture and modern research, the author covers what he sees as essential and very important differences between the needs of boys and girls as they grow. He describes how cultural criticisms of masculinity harm boys the most, and how moral relativism has blurred the vision that boys should acquire about the kind of man that they should become. He asserts that when a boy does not have a clear vision and role model for masculinity, then the process of becoming a responsible and caring man is far more difficult and less successful.