What Would You Do?

I have worked with children in shelters and in schools. This book is great to throw out situations that children and youth could be exposed to and find out how they would the handle the situation.

As a parent always searching for the best ways to challenge my daughter and her friends, I have been pleased with the entire "What Would You Do..." series. It's not what I would characterize as a book your child would sit and read cover to cover. Instead, it's one that invites conversation by presenting it as a question at a time -- over dinner, in the car, or whenever you want to provoke thought and conversation. While not every question may appeal to your child, you may select from the many questions posed to have delightful, and sometimes meaningful, conversations about the zany and often difficult choices we make in life.

This book gives clear, concise descriptions of how a child or young adolescent might handle the unexpected--embarassing, frightening or even life threatening situations. Each situation is briefly stated on a single page in large type. The next page gives clear instructions on how to get the situation under control and when to call for help. Some of the situations include: dealing with an electrical blackout, being followed by a stranger, finding an injured animal, and what to do when a friend appears to have sustained a head injury. I showed this book to children of varying ages. It elicited interest from children as young as six and as old as high school. One bright six-year-old buried himself in the book, sounding out the hard words because the information made him feel empowered. Older children picked and chose which situations they read but liked the straightforward approach. This book would be good for a general population of children and young adolescents. However, it would be especially helpful to children who have social skills deficits.

I thought it was good book, giving guidence to kids in some common and not so common situations. However, I believe some parts are more appropriate for older kids.

This book is part of our school's family peace backpack along with a video, popcorn, and info on how to get along. There is an error on page 116 of the 1990 version. It mentions that you should put petroleum jelly on ticks to make them get off you. It does not work, the tick has plenty of oxygen, it will not suffocate. It may delay a person using tweezers to get the tick off and the person could get a disease from the tick. I have not seen the 1991 version to see if this has been corrected. Thank you