This question usually comes from a parent who already senses the answer, but wants permission to act on it. So let me explain it a different way.
Every boy needs a mentor at some point. Not because something is wrong with him or with his parents. But because there are things a father, mother, or guardian cannot teach in the same way another trusted man can. A boy will often be more open with a mentor than with his own parent. This is not because he does not respect his parent. It is because a mentor does not carry the old arguments or the weight of being the one who disciplines him every day at home.
I remember a boy at one of our camps who barely spoke for the first two days. On the third night, sitting quietly with one of our mentors, he opened up about something he had been carrying alone for over a year. His own father did not even know about it. That one conversation changed the rest of his week, and by his mother's account, the months after too.
“A boy will often be more open with a mentor than with his own parent, not out of disrespect, but because a mentor carries none of the history.”
You do not need to wait for a big problem to know your son needs a mentor. If he has started pulling away from talking to you, if he seems to be figuring out who he is without much guidance, or if you simply feel there are things he is not telling you, that is often enough.
Boys to Men Mentorship Camp exists to be that steady, trustworthy presence for boys at this exact stage.