How to Turn a Boy Into a Man

The Art of Manliness

Philosophy, Society & Culture, Education

4.7 • 14.8K Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2026

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Note: This is a rebroadcast.

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.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	So when we first started the Art of Manliness store, there was definitely that voice in the back of my head.
0:04.6	What if nobody buys anything?
0:06.4	What if this doesn't work?
0:07.8	One thing that made it easier was having Shopify.
0:10.7	We've used Shopify for years now to run the AOM store and it handles everything in one place.
0:16.4	Inventory, payments, analytics.
0:18.7	So you're not juggling a bunch of different tools.
0:21.0	It's the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all
0:25.5	e-commerce in the U.S. from big brands to smaller operations like ours.
0:30.0	And Shopify actually helps you find customers.
0:32.5	You can run email and social campaigns right from the platform and that shop pay checkout
0:36.7	makes a big difference.
0:38.7	Fewer abandoned carts, more completed purchases.
0:41.7	And if you ever get stuck, they've got 24-7 customer support, which matters when you're
0:46.5	figuring things out as you go.
0:48.2	It's time to turn those what-ifs into results with Shopify today.
0:51.7	Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash manliness.
0:56.8	Go to shopify.com slash manliness at shopify.com slash manliness. If you've been following A.O.M for a while,
1:04.2	you know that I love the book, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. It's one of my favorite novels of all
1:08.9	time. It's sprawling, funny, and heartbreaking. Basically Basically it's the American Odyssey set in the Old West. And by the end of it, the characters feel less like fictional people and more like old friends you lived alongside with for a few weeks. So this summer, over at our Substack Newsletter Dying Breed, we're doing an eight-week Lonesome Dove Book Club for paid subscribers. When you sign up, you'll get a reading schedule. It's just about 20 to 30 minutes a day, plus weekly reflections and discussion prompts from me and Jeremy Annenberg. We'll have some Lonesome Dove theme giveaways and a Q&A with Larry McMurtry Scholar, Stephen Frye about Lonesome Dove. If you always meant to read Lonesome Dove, this is your excuse. And if you've
1:44.4	already read it, this is a great reason to saddle up and experience it again. The first reading assignment drops Saturday, May 30th. You can sign up at dyingbreed.net. Again, that's dyingbreed.net. Hope to see you on the trail with us. Hey, this is Brett. We're taking a break from new episodes this week.
2:00.5	So we're going to rebroadcast episode number 810,
	...

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