Lost Boys: Boyhood

Agreeing on a problem is easy. Consensus on the solution is notoriously less so. Boys are in crisis, on this the data is clear. They are consistently behind girls in school, twice as likely to be unemployed, and over three times as likely to take their own lives. In order to re-instil hope and opportunity to a generation of
young men we need a plethora of big and small changes. There is no silver bullet.

Rather than pursuing a thematic analysis like the Lost Boys: State of the Nation, our solutions are laid out chronologically. In this report, Boyhood, we lay out our ideas for change in the early years. Each recommendation is designed to steer us towards a place where we better nurture and understand boys,
recognising their distinct needs, and advocating for their future. When our boys succeed, we all flourish.

This paper focuses on the three places where young boys are: at home, at school, and behind screens. Although the challenges for young boys are less explosive than their adolescent counterparts, the troubles manifesting in young men undoubtedly begin long before they reach the ears of the public.
Ultimately, the solutions to these problems lie in time, attention, and resource. And to get the best bang for buck, any intervention must be spent earlier rather than later.

Starting from the roots means looking at family formation and marriage as the best way to keep fathers involved in their children’s lives. It means acknowledging that higher screen time in the early years is holding children back. It means understanding that, right from the start, our education system favours the traits of our girls more than those of our boys

This report includes both tweaks and wholesale shifts all aiming to improve the lot of our young boys. They constitute a deliberate generational shift towards better supporting children and young families alongside small, actionable policies that we can start now.

If we are serious about preventing another generation of lost boys in men’s bodies, we must start at the beginning.