Without mincing words, boys aren't making the grade. From primary school to the day they stop higher education, they aren't as good as girls. They aren't getting jobs the way they used to. The percentage of young men not moving from education to work has grown for 30 years. Since Covid, the number of NEET males (Not in Education, Employment or Training) has increased by 40%.
Boys and girls could have got, or not got, Covid. Which doesn't explain why yes, it is mostly just boys. The number of female NEETS increased by only 7%. When they are in work, young men don't earn as much as young women.
Their attitudes are changing, too. Where young women are becoming more liberal and left-progressive, thinking about a more inclusive, caring world to live in, young men are increasingly drawn to right-wing traditional politics. You might think it strange that a 17-year-year-old seems to believe that Alf Garnett knew what was going down on the street or that a man who films himself eating steak in his boxer shorts in Romania, wailing about how unfair it is that he's been arrested for sex trafficking is going to help much in finding him a job and somewhere to live, but apparently, that's exactly what they think.
They're looking online for simplistic solutions to what's seen as a complex problem, an epidemic of family breakdown, with millions of boys deprived of any positive model of manhood.
You can download the entire report from the Centre for Social Justice here, completely free of charge: https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/library/lost-boys
There's another simple solution. Talk to them. Show them what real men do, apart from eating steak in their underwear.
This is what Helping Cards is for. It shows young people how to build the skills they need in real life. It makes them their own role models, self-reliant and confident young adults who know how to cope, adapt and build fulfilling, valuable lives. People who don't need to look for role models online, because they've become real-life role models, for themselves and for other people.
That might sound like a lot for like a lot for a card game. It isn't, because Helping Cards isn't just a card game. It's engagement, with adults, children, and young people engaged, talking to each other, and doing something no amount of internet scrolling can ever do. Helping Cards helps every player reflect on what they've achieved, build on their strengths, and think about how they can do things better.