Good Kids, Tough Choices: How Parents Can Help Their Children Do the Right Thing

GOOD KIDS, TOUGH CHOICES: How Parents Can Help Their Children Do the Right Thing

“Rush Kidder’s Good Kids, Tough Choices is great for every parent who wants practical advice about how to raise kids with good character who do the right thing. He doesn’t offer platitudes or one size to fit all, but shows how to approach every moral question in the context of the individual situation. Rush has done his homework and has the research to prove it, from his own studies all over the world.”

--Michele Borba, author of  Building Moral Intelligence and  The Big Book of Parenting Solutions, and parenting expert for The Today Show

“Parents long to raise good kids—kids who live by sound guidelines, arrive at wise decisions, and have the courage of their convictions,” writes Rush Kidder.  Yet sound parenting in today’s world can be a daunting task.   Many parents are uncertain how to guide their children through ethical dilemmas without coming off as preachy or old-fashioned. Often, they end up saying nothing.  Good Kids, Tough Choices: How Parents Can Help Their Children Do the Right Thing, by Rushworth M. Kidder (October 4^th, 2010; Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley; $16.95) explores how parents can overcome these obstacles and effectively support and lead their children from early years to late teens.     

  Based on four years of extensive research and on-the-ground interviews with parents about their real-life ethical dilemmas, GOOD KIDS provides clear, easy-to-follow guidelines for parents to navigate the sticky issues that their kids confront in the 21^st century.  

We learn that:

• Given the chance to fib their way out of tough situations, kids three and under don’t tend to lie—but those four and older do
• College students who knowingly wear counterfeit sunglasses are twice as likely to cheat on tests as those wearing the real thing
• Simple acts like playing with Legos can be used to teach important ethical issues

We also learn about the three “lenses” that help kids see and develop their own integrity:

• knowing what’s right (their core values)
• making tough choices (their ethical decision making skills)
• standing for conscience (their moral courage)