How to Turn a Boy Into a Man

5/26/20261 hr 12 min

A lot of young men today struggle in finding their footing in adulthood. They feel lost, directionless, and unsure of who they are and how to confidently and competently navigate the world.

Part of the reason for this is that most young men today lack something which was once a part of nearly every culture in the world, but has now almost entirely disappeared: a rite of passage.

My guest today didn’t want his son to flounder on the way to maturity, nor to miss out on having an initiation into manhood, so he set out to create a 6-year journey for him that would help him move from boy to man. His name is Jon Tyson, and he’s the author of The Intentional Father: A Practical Guide to Raise Sons of Courage and Character. Today on the show, Jon unpacks the components of the years-long journey into manhood he created for his son, beginning with how he brainstormed those components by doing “The Day Your Son Leaves Home” exercise. We then discuss how old Jon’s son was when he started his rite of passage and why it began with him having a “severing dinner” with his mom. We get into what his rite of passage consisted of, from the kickoff ceremony to the challenges, experiences, trips, and daily rituals Jon used to impart values and teach his son the “5 Shifts of Manhood.” Jon shares how moving his son’s focus from being a good man, to being good at being a man, helped him get remotivated to continue the process, why his rite of passage included a gap year after high school, and how Jon celebrated the end of his son’s journey into becoming a man. We also discuss whether Jon did something similar with his daughter. We end our conversation with some key principles any dad can use to start intentionally helping their kids become well-rounded individuals who can confidently step out on their own and into the world.

Resources Related to the Podcast

Connect With Jon Tyson

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Clips

Good AT Being A Man

Ocean-Side Blessing Ceremony

The Severing Dinner

Whiner To Action-Taker

Meaning Of The Dash

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

Speaker 10:00
So when we first started the Art of Manliness store, there was definitely that voice in the back of my head. What if nobody buys anything? What if this doesn't work? One thing that made it easier was having Shopify. We've used Shopify for years now to run the AOM store, and it handles everything in one place. Inventory, payments, analytics, so you're not juggling a bunch of different tools. It's the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e-commerce in the US, from big brands to smaller operations like ours. And Shopify actually helps you find customers. You can run email and social campaigns right from the platform, and that shop pay checkout makes a big difference. Fewer abandoned carts, more completed purchases. And if you ever get stuck, they've got twenty-four/seven customer support, which matters when you're figuring things out as you go. It's time to turn those what ifs into results with Shopify today. Sign up for your one dollar per month trial today at shopify.com/manliness. Go to shopify.com/manliness. That's shopify.com/manliness. You plan a trip abroad? Let's do a quick calculation, okay? Most phone companies charge around ten dollars a day to use your phone abroad. For a one-week trip, that's seventy dollars. Two weeks of vacation, one hundred and forty dollars, just to use your phone. Or you could bring the internet with you. Yes, set up an international data plan in just seconds with an Airalo eSIM for a fraction of the price. Here's the trick: your phone is likely compatible with an eSIM. It's a digital SIM, no plastic

Clips

Transcript preview

We value your privacy