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Moral Education: A Handbook calls him “the father of modern character education.” A past president of the Association for Moral Education, he speaks around the world on fostering moral values and character development in schools, families, and communities.
His eight books on moral development and character education have been translated into ten languages. They include Raising Good Children; Educating for Character (known as “the bible of the character education movement”); Character Matters; and (with Matthew Davidson) Smart & Good High Schools. Educating for Character received a Christopher Award “for affirming the highest values of the human spirit.” His forthcoming book, How to Raise Kind Kids: and Get Respect, Gratitude, and a Happier Family in the Bargain, will be published by Penguin in April 2018.
His Center’s work was the subject of a New York Times Magazine cover article, “Teaching Johnny to Be Good.” He received the Character Education Partnership’s “Sandy Award” for Lifetime Achievement in Character Education and the University of San Francisco’s Outstanding Achievement in Moral Education Award. He has been a guest on national media such as “Good Morning America,” “Larry King Live Radio,” “Focus on the Family,” and National Public Radio. His Center’s best-practices education letter, excellence & ethics, goes out to thousands of educators and parents around the world. The Center currently partners with England’s University of Leeds on the Narnian Virtues English Curriculum Project, which uses The Chronicles of Narnia of C.S. Lewis to foster virtues in middle school children.
Every child has the capacity for kindness. It’s up to us to provide the environment that brings out their best. But kids these days are growing up in a world where almost anything is a click or a phone tap away, where patience, respect, and responsibility are less prominent than selfishness, incivility, ingratitude, and entitlement. When kids are exposed to that sort of environment 24/7—from toxic politics to the increasing hyper-sexualization of pop culture, fed in a constant stream through smartphones and laptops—can parents (and kindness) compete?
World-renowned developmental psychologist Dr. Thomas Lickona offers hope. In HOW TO RAISE KIND KIDS: And Get Respect, Gratitude, and a Happier Family in the, he shows how parents can push back against negative societal influences by creating a strong family culture that models and teaches kindness, respect, gratitude, and other essential virtues. Widely revered as the father of modern character education, Dr. Lickona draws on more than 40 years of experience to share the tools parents can use in daily life to help their children grow in goodness.
Dr. Lickona discusses:
· Three common mistakes that parents make (and why you shouldn’t pay for chores)
· Why together time and “connective family rituals” are so important
· Why a Family Mission statement is crucial for creating a culture of kindness and respect
· How family meetings will help you sustain a positive family culture
· Three things that should be in your discipline toolbox
· How to teach even young kids to solve sibling conflicts
· How to reduce screens’ harmful effects on family life and kids’ brains and behavior
· How to talk to kids and get them to talk to you (Conversation Starters)
· How to help your older kids resist peer pressure, avoid the worst aspects of social media, and find true love in a hypersexualized environment that normalizes unkind and unhealthy behavior.
HOW TO RAISE KIND KIDS will help parents give and get respect, discipline in a way that builds character, correct cruelty, form more meaningful relationships with kids, and foster a concern for others that extends beyond the family. There has never been a more important time to discuss how to develop good character in our children—and there’s nobody more qualified for the job than Dr. Lickona.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr. Thomas Lickona is a developmental psychologist and educator focused on helping parents and schools develop good character in children. He is the founding director of the Center for the 4th and 5th Rs (Respect and Responsibility) at SUNY Cortland, where he was a professor of childhood education for 40 years. His eight books on character development include Raising Good Children, Character Matters, and Educating for Character ("the bible of the character education movement"). He writes a new blog for Psychology Today called “Raising Kind Kids.”
