Reading the book

As a parent:

Life Teachings: Raising a Child reminds parents of the remarkable responsibility for the life styles, values and attitudes passed on to our children. The book is filled with examples for creating a positive childhood foundation based on the powerful role of conscious choice.

With your child:

Life Teachings: Raising a Child is a chapter book that can be read aloud to your younger children or your older children can read it themselves. Either way the stories give many ideas for an approach to life that is respectful, appealing and doable. Children will often want to try some of these ideas to see how they work in their own family.

With your partner:

Life Teachings: Raising a Child is a powerful book to read aloud with your partner. The short stories can promote intimate discussions about how each was raised, the values each carries and how each wants to create their future.

As high school and college students:

Life Teachings: Raising a Child is appealing to high school and college aged students for seeing that choices they make will greatly influence their lives. As they read the chapters, they see that their parents have selected their formative experiences up until now, while today they are selecting the experiences that will form the mature adults they will be. In both instances the value of a game plan and making conscious choices is apparent.

As an adult:

Life Teachings: Raising a Child reminds us that we have a choice concerning the childhood foundation we received from our parents. If we find the foundation useful, we can choose to continue building our lives upon it. On the other hand, if we need to alter, or even rebuild, our childhood foundation to help us be the person we want to be, we can do so. We are the ones in charge now.

As a book discussion:

Life Teachings: Raising a Child is an interesting choice for a group or book club discussion. There is an intellectual and emotional involvement as one rethinks a childhood and reflects on the crucial roles that experiences and conscious choice have in one's life.

Suggested Questions for Book Discussion

• Is it important to hold yourself to the same standards that you have for your children? Why or why not? What does the author of Life Teachings: Raising a Child say about this?
  
  
• How are guilt and responsibility related in the average person's mind? Should they be related? How are they different? Do you want your child to act out of responsibility or guilt? What does the author of Life Teachings: Raising a Child say about this?
  
  
• Is creative play important for children? Why do you feel the way you do? How can creative play help you as an adult?
  
  
• Give an example of something an adult said to you when you were a child that has "stuck" with you now that you are an adult. Can you give both positive and negative comments? What can be learned about parenting from this?
  
  
• What is empathy? Is it important for children to learn empathy? What does the author of Life Teachings: Raising a Child say about this?
  
  
• Why is logical reasoning a valuable concept for a child to learn? When should a child start to learn logical reasoning?

Buy Life Teachings: Raising a Child from Amazon.com. $12.95. Paperback, 112 pages.

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