Raising Kids Who Will Make a Difference: Helping Your Family Live with Integrity, Value Simplicity, and Care for Others

by Susan V. Vogt

Raising kids to be socially conscious and embrace strong values can be difficult in today's world. In Raising Kids Who Will Make a Difference , mother, counselor, and family-life educator Susan Vogt sets out to inspire, equip, and comfort parents in the awesome task of raising Catholic kids who will make positive contributions to our world. Using a delightful blend of honesty and humor, Vogt offers successful parenting strategies and straightforward discussions on important issues such as sexuality, substance abuse, materialism, racism, global awareness, and death.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2002

Reviews

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're a connoisseur of parenting books, you might skip this one because it's slightly elementary. But if you're a new parent and haven't cracked too many of these types of books, this would be a good place to start.

If you aren't religious and/or don't appreciate mention of religion or God, skip this book. The author is a dedicated Catholic and that shows up in her writing. It's not as if she's trying to convert you; it's just present in her writings. The foundation of some of her opinions and ideas are obviously Christian.

One unique feature of this book is the contributions by her children and other families. After each chapter, she has her children "weigh in" on each subject. And some of her kid's contributions are not sympathetic to her plight or belief. I appreciate that honesty. It would've been terribly easy for the author to leave out those contributions that didn't concur with her thoughts/ideas/opinions.

Subjects found within:
1. Identity: nurturing values of honestly, courage, humility & integrity.
2. Time: Ideas for taming the calendar.
3. Materialism: the simple life can be pretty complex.
4. Ecology: what it's worth to care for the earth.
5. Media: how to use, abuse, the media.
6. Health: life and death matter - sex and beyond.
7. Peacemaking: how to get on with getting along.
8. Spirituality: sharing faith that will last after they leave home.
9. Global Awareness: from being the center of the universe to exploring the universe.
10. Diversity: what's the difference - black, white and everything in-between.
11. Service: live beyond myself, my family, my neighborhood.
12. Motivation: how we learn to care about caring.

Some ideas are outdated because this was written in 2002.

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're going to write a parenting book and then have your adult kids weigh in within the book, don't include their weigh in if it makes you look bad! Geesh! The author wasn't left with a lot of credibility.

Granted I read a lot of parenting books, but I didn't learn anything new with this one.

[Edith Michmerhuizen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan and I want our children to live by this verse:
"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8

We pray that our children will be socially responsible adults, people who will be committed to the common good. We are the kind of parents that took their son to his first march when he was less than a year old. Will our parenting decisions have the effect that we desire? So, when I heard about this book I had to get it. How will The author draws from her personal experience and gives practical ideas on parenting covering topics such as materialism,spirituality, ecology, peacemaking, global awareness, diversity and service. Furthermore, her adult children give their perspective about the way her parents raised her (what worked, what did not work). Overall, a very good read.