Quoted from JToeps:

just found this thread and catching up but I wanted to share one secret for anyone with little ones in the house.
--> I kept my Calvin and Hobbes books in their room, JUST out of reach.
I didn't mention them. Didn't force them. Just left them up there, dangling precariously on a shelf. That, plus the "501 facts about pokemon" book I bought our neuro-divergent eldest turned them into lifelong readers.

Quoted from canea:

We have a 20 year old in college doing very well and a 16 year old boy who's a typical 16 year old boy. Mostly we've let them grow up doing what they want and find their own way, discouraging bad behavior when necessary. We pay for their endeavors when we can (as opposed to making them pay for everything, like schooling for example) because its a great way to transfer wealth to them now as opposed to later, and pay it forward.
One thing that has changed in the last generation is that boys (in particular) don't care as much about the opposite sex as they used to. They've got video games and pron and culture has pretty much taught them that women are a big pain in the ass (re:Barbie) so they're just not as interested. I think this trend has been documented in Japan as well among young men. There's just not as much drive (plenty of conspiracy theories as to why that is) to get out there and do things in a world that seems much more ambivalent to their actions than it did during the last generation. So, overcoming that feeling of apathy (or pretending like you have) is likely a big part of becoming a successful adult for boys.
Just a recent example of that last bit, my son recently had a young lady ask him to prom. He told her, "I'll think about it." I was flabbergasted by that. Are you kidding me?