A Time to Sharpen

In part two of this special podcast dealing with school bullying, Axel, Brandon and Thomas share thoughts about the bullying problem, along with some simple, proven effective ways to address childhood bullying and some ideas about what could work as well.

Whetstone's Thomas Brown joins Brandon and Axel for the first of a two-part series on the subject of childhood bullying. Once a victim of terrible bullying, Thomas emerged as a three-decades filmmaker, educator, national speaker and consultant on a subject he knows all-too-well. Despite a frightening childhood filled with physical torment and ridicule, Thomas ultimately forgave his tormentors and...

Rules without Relationship = Rebellion. We’ve said this before on the podcast, but it bears repeating. Whetstone Boys Ranch was founded upon this basic assumption. Rules are necessary, but without a human being to explain, interpret, apply, and at times modify those rules, they become a formula for failure as parents, teachers, and counselors.  Just watch any of the hundreds of dystopian televisio...

Bad parenting is often compared to snowplows and helicopters. There is a very strong temptation to rescue our kids from their mistakes: swooping in to save the day, or plowing a path so smooth that they never have to struggle.  Every parent is guilty of it to some extent. First because the motivation behind these parenting styles seem so noble. And second, because the line between helping and enab...

‘Tis the season to be over-working, over-spending, over-eating…and under-sleeping. I don’t know about you, but I feel like the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is probably the most stressful of the year…with the possible exception of the weeks leading up to April 15th. What does that say about Christmas if the feelings it evokes rival those of falling victim to legalized theft. Throw in the...

Did you know that the second Friday in January is known as “Quitter’s Day?” Studies have shown that by this day each year, 80% of all New Year’s Resolutions have been abandoned.  I think one reason for this is that we don’t plan for failure. We tend to be overly optimistic about how easy it will be to start exercising or stop spending. Habits are hard to break. That’s why they’re called habits in...

Is there anything better than a good holiday tradition? Well, yeah, lots of things I guess. Two good holiday traditions…three good holiday traditions. Seriously though, join us this week on A Time to Sharpen as we discuss the 2003, Christmas classic, Elf, starring the great Will Ferrell. It’s a tradition for us to watch this one with the boys at the ranch, as well as with our own kids. It’s the pe...

What’s it like to be the parent of a boy at Whetstone? There is really only one person who can answer that question. You guessed it. It’s the parent of a boy at Whetstone.  This week on A Time to Sharpen we have two such parents: JD and Kelly Buss, the mother and father of Joey Buss, one of our recent 2024 graduates. I feel certain that this podcast will be a huge help to parents looking to place...

What’s it like to be the parent of a boy at Whetstone? There is really only one person who can answer that question. You guessed it. It’s the parent of a boy at Whetstone.  This week on A Time to Sharpen we have two such parents: JD and Kelly Buss, the mother and father of Joey Buss, one of our recent 2024 graduates. I feel certain that this podcast will be a huge help to parents looking to place...

In The Tech Wise Family, author Andy Crouch describes the difference between devices which do our work for us, and tools which allow us to work for ourselves. One contracts, the other expands. One makes us lazy and apathetic, the other pushes us to grow. One forces us to conform; the other helps us to become better versions of ourselves.  At Whetstone, our work program equips boys with useful skil...

Movies are a powerful tool. They have the ability to not just change people, but to change the world. The film industry proclaims and celebrates this power every year during Oscar season, up and down the red carpet.  So I’ve always thought it strange when some of these same people minimize the impact that exposure to profanity, sex, violence, and other unsavoryness has on the public at large. “It’...

“Safety first,” the old saying goes. And it’s true, it’s pretty dumb to ignore safety issues before deciding to do something potentially dangerous. But that doesn’t mean that a wise person will never attempt to do anything dangerous in life.  In fact, there are times when not doing a “dangerous” thing is more hazardous to our health. For example, sitting down all day seems like a safe thing to do,...

What person in their right mind travels 9 hours in a cramped vehicle, with no Buc-ees between there and here, to work for 3 long days in hot, humid, 100 degree weather, battling sawdust, sanders, chainsaws, ticks, and chiggers, expecting nothing in return but the joy of lending a helping hand?  Whetstone volunteers, that’s who.  We’ve hosted 100’s of them over the years…probably 1000’s…I don’t rea...

In high school, Dennis Rodman was my favorite basketball player. Not because he dyed his hair pink, got married to himself while wearing a wedding dress, and became close personal friends with Kim Jong Un. Not that. Instead, it was because of his amazing hustle and unadulterated passion for the game of basketball. He was also one of the Detroit Piston “Bad Boys” who won back to back championships...

It’s sad to see your kids grow up…but it’s more sad if they don’t grow up. That’s the conclusion I’ve come to with my four children. It’s my job to prepare them for life without me.  But what exactly does this entail? I don’t plan on going away anytime soon, but I don’t want them calling me up at midnight to ask if they should book the morning or evening flight to Denver. They should be able to ma...

We often get asked about our “success rate,” as if the boys who come here are games on a schedule. People want to know our win/loss record. Is it above .500? Did we make the playoffs? If not, what coaches are we going to fire? What off-season moves are we going to make? And I get it. I can be very results-oriented. But what exactly does it mean to be ‘successful’? Is it something that can be measu...

Sports, sports, sports…and more sports. We can’t seem to get enough. We have 24 hour coverage of every athletic competition across the globe. Sports on television, the radio, the internet. Then there is the conversation before, during, and after each individual event. I haven’t done the math, but it would probably take a lifetime to consume just one day’s coverage of sports around the globe.  For...

Sir Isaac Newton observed that “an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion…unless acted upon by an outside force.” And while his laws of thermodynamics revolutionized physics, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that this is also true in our lives as parents, teachers, and counselors. We tend to stick with the same old strategies we’ve been using because they are, well...

You are what you eat. If you eat exclusively chicken nuggets, you’ll probably end up looking like a chicken nugget. Literally.  Remember the documentary, Super Size Me ? That dude ate only Mcdonald's food for 30 days, and he almost died. It was crazy. Of course, anyone could have told you that was stupid, so I’m not sure why had to risk his life to prove the point that fast food is unhealthy;...

What is the “Whetstone Way?” Well, to state the obvious, it’s the way we do things at Whetstone. It implies grit, determination, and a commitment to quality in all aspects of the program.  To paraphrase the great Vince Lombardi, it’s about chasing perfection, knowing that we will never attain it, while remaining confident that “we shall catch excellence” in the process. To quote another great coac...

Mark Twain once said, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society.”  Join us this week on A Time To Sharpen , as we discuss the importance of our clothing choices. They say a lot, fairly or unfairly, about who we are. This is especially true with teenagers, whose entire identity is sometimes built around name brands. How do we as parents, teachers, and counselors hel...

In the academic world, we sometimes refer to Art as an “elective,” intentionally or unintentionally implying that it is not necessary. At Whetstone, we believe that nothing is farther from the truth.  From music and film, to painting and poetry, we try to incorporate Art on a weekly if not daily  basis to teach lessons about life and our relationship with the “Creator” or the Universe.  Join us th...

We’ve all been stuck in the mud. Even Brandon, with his vast array of man-skills, has found himself up his axles in mud a time or two…or maybe it's just the one time. My point is that it happens to the best of us. There is no shame in getting stuck. It happens to anyone who is out there trying to make things happen.  It’s what we do once we’re stuck in the mud that matters. Get down on ourselv...

Goals are good. I have nothing against goals.  My dad gives all of his kids, grandkids, and in-laws $100 bucks every time the New Year rolls around for making a set of long term and short term goals. I used to teach my English students how to make SMART goals, and assign them as homework. You might remember we talked about this very thing one year ago. But lately, I’ve started to think there is so...

Fathers and sons. Mother and daughters. For some reason, these relationships seem fraught with conflict. Is this because we would never separate from our parents if the relationship was too good? Maybe.  Is it because the devil knows if he can attack the family at this point, he will do damage to the greatest safeguard against evil known to man? Definitely. That’s what I would do if I were the dev...