He has a lot of great qualities (smart, hard-working, good looking, physically fit, musically talented) but he is the most beta boy on the planet. For example, he uses the word “sorry” a lot. He is not assertive. He avoids confrontation. My wife and I joke that if someone hit him in the face, he would apologize for putting his face in the way of the assailant's fist.

Ever since he was a toddler he has been this way. Once, when he was just 1 year old, a mom from our neighborhood criticized him for being "submissive." She was a bitch, but maybe she had a point. Initially, I thought it was great because he was so well-behaved, easy to control. But the Beta qualities that made him easy to raise are, alas, unattractive to most teenage girls and women.

What role, if any, should my wife and I play in helping him become more Alpha? For example, should we enroll him in a martial arts class? This may sound odd, but should we encourage him to be more of a trouble-maker? ("Son, you got in a fight at school. We're proud of you!") We have already banned the word "sorry" from his vocabulary.

There are a lot of books and websites helping adult Beta males become more Alpha, but I haven't seen anything geared for boys (or for parents of boys).