I do a great deal of men's work (www.MKP.org). In my experince helping men get past some tramatic event, I need to speak in a way they will relate to/understand. Then I can transpose thier reality to a larger reality. So for me the key is to try to reach him by using what he understands. For expample: what I would use is math. I would key in on sets/sub-sets of number theory. But I would not tell him why we are talking about it. I would save that for last. Then I would have prepared a list of ONE thing he should do every day. Example: Brush his hair before he goes out. Once he is doing that, then I would give him one more task...and so on. And when he complains, then I would go back to number theory, and explain that sometimes we need Zeros. By the way, I think any martial arts that excites him is a good thing!