Raising Good Children: From Birth Through the Teenage Years

After Dr. Lickona spoke at our church, I went out and bought this book. It gave me an excellent framework within which to make decisions as my three very different daughters matured. I'm here now to buy it for my eldest who is wanting to become a mom herself. She and her sisters have all grown into women I am proud to call friends, women I would admire even if they weren't my offspring. One is an Army wife calmly preparing for her husband's second deployment. One is a veteran of the surge, an Army NCO who has just been accepted to OCS. And one is a Marine Corporal preparing for her first deployment. If any measure of their faith, and commitment to duty, honor, courage, compassion, and self-sacrifice is due to my use of this book, then I hope Dr. Lickona finds the doors to the Pearly Gates are WIDE OPEN when he arrives there.

I just recently purchased this book,i found it to be realistic and very helpful,i have read several parenting books and i think this is one of the best i have read so far.

I recently reviewed several parenting books for a thesis paper to see how the advice stacked up against the all research articles on parenting that I could find. I read the books first and found myself really liking this one due to its readability and grounding in research. Also, it has sound philosophical teachings and specific advice that is appropriate to every age and stage. It combines the fields of Child Development and Psychology with morality and good common sense to lend the reader a practical guide. It leaves plenty of room for readers to fashion our parenting philosophy combining the information given with our own intuition, experience and views. Anyway, I also reviewed three other more popular books (bestsellers), some of which cited research of their own. What I found when I compared the advice given in these books with the findings of popular current studies on parenting is that Lickona's book was the most detailed, most grounded in research, least repetitive book of the four, AND it was very well-supported with the current findings I encountered. Hooray! If only the chapter on babies were more detailed (including more information on the most healthy philosophies for feeding, sleeping, etc.), I'd be even more thrilled. (I have a 4-month-old.) However, as a mother and scholar, I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to raise moral, thinking children. I would also recommend it to teachers.

I received this book some time ago thinking it was just another "others doing a better job than me" book. I recently starting reading it and found it very good for providing a sound approach to raising my own children.