How To Raise a Boy

How To! with Mike Pesca

Jen is raising a pretty stellar 9-year-old son. With his tween and teen years on the horizon, she wants to steer him toward kindness, acceptance, and openness—and away from the pitfalls of toxic masculinity. On this episode, How To!'s Carvell Wallace brings on Ashanti Branch, founder of The Ever Forward Club and host of unMASKing with Male Educators. Ashanti offers his advice on talking with boys about their emotions, understanding the "mask" that young men present to the world, and building trust and confidence—by acknowledging that adults don't have all the answers.

If you liked this episode check out: How To Parent Less and How To Make Friends … Like a Man

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The show is produced by Rosemary Belson, with Kevin Bendis and Sophie Summergrad. Our technical director is Merritt Jacob and our supervising producer is Joel Meyer.

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2025-10-07 37 min

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