Talk with Your Kids: Conversations About Ethics -- Honesty, Friendship, Sensitivity, Fairness, Dedication, Individuality -- and 103 Other Things That Really Matter

by Michael Parker

A guide for parents to help their children better understand the world around them by helping them think through the questions they face regarding honesty, friendship, sensitivity, fairness, dedication, individuality and 103 other character-building issues

Many families and almost all schools spend a great deal of time developing children academically, but studies show tht scholastic achievement is not the only key to future success. Developing no-cognitive skills, which children often learn from their parents, is equally relevant.

Talk with Your Kids prompts thoughtful and effective discussion between parents and children by posing 109 open-ended questions. Many of the questions reflect situations immediately relevant to kids, such as cyber-bullying, cheating in school or in sports, accepting differences, illegal music downloads, what defines lying, and making choices about drugs and sex.

Other questions ask kids to consider larger dilemmas, such as medical ethics and medical testing, declaring war, crime and punishment, eating meat, and more. Parker also offers suggestions to parents on how to keep the conversations going and encourage kids to think more deeply about an issue. Throughout the book are questions based on the theories of famous ethicists and philosophers, including John Stuart Mill, Immanuel Kant, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean Jacques Rousseau.

Best-selling parenting books such as How Children Succeed and Nurtureshock emphasize the importance of strong values in a child. The conversations in Talk with Your Kids help parents achieve this goal.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Childrens

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 13, 2013

About the author

Michael Parker is the Headmaster of Oxley College in Southern NSW. He received Arts and Law degrees from Sydney University and worked briefly in a corporate law firm before turning his attention to Education. He has a Masters Degree in teaching Philosophy to children and has written six textbooks in the areas of Legal Studies, Philosophy in Schools, and English.

Michael joined the Jane Curry Publishing team in 2012 with Ethics 101: Conversations to have with your kids. A great success, the book has since been published in the USA in August 2013. The second book in this series, Talk With Your Kids: Big Ideas, was published in May 2014, along with a second edition of Ethics 101, aptly renamed Talk With Your Kids: Ethics.

Michael’s talents don’t just lie in the world of Education publishing. He has had two novels published, including a Young Adult Novel Doppelganger, which was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Award in 2007, and a children’s picture book, You Are A Star, which was published with Bloomsbury in the USA in September 2012.

He is married and has two daughters.

Reviews

[Christine Luong · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is totally not what I was expecting. I was expecting a little bit more insight on how to "talk with your kids" about important issues. Instead it's literally just a list of questions to initiate discussion with them.

[Deb Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many dinner conversations were initiated from ideas in this book -- ethical considerations on wide-ranging topics. The kids enjoy the fact that there are no right or wrong answers to the various situations and questions posed and as a grandmother I enjoyed learning the thinking behind the answers each child gave.

I borrowed this book from the library, but am now going to purchase it. It will provide many hours of thoughtful and introspective reading -- and even better -- become the basis of some important conversations with the grand kids.

[Diah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit disappointed, I think this is not really suitable for kids, more of a teenager (?) Or at least pre-teen. Kind of condescending as well with the language, but kind of inspiring how broad the topics are: from gender relations to animal rights. Good start to initiate though.

[Varsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to understand how to start those conversations

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this can be a really fun and meaningful way to elicit importyant new conversations with students.

[Douglas Lord · Rating 5 out of 5]

tarting with the question, “Your child may be smart, but is he or she good?” Parker presents an Ethics 101 course for families with this effective,helpful tome. The 109 scenarios eschew right-or-wrong, black-or-white answers, instead serving as launch pads for discussion. They range from pretty easy (e.g., “Is it okay to tell white lies?”) to pretty frigging hard (e.g., “Is torture ever acceptable?”) and hundreds of realistic scenarios between those extremes (e.g., your BFF wants to blow up mailboxes, what do you do?). All will help spark discussion about handling conundrums that can go from imaginary to real all too quickly (e.g., unsupervised choices at parties, firecrackers and frogs). This is real meat and potatoes for parents with kids approaching the age at which they need to start thinking for themselves and reasoning things out. Because let’s face it, doing this on your own can have unintended consequences. My own product, the BFD Virtual Ethics Simulator (it resembles the Wayback Machine), saw me happily shoplifting, climbing into the free candy van, and promising lots of money to charity only to blow it on librarian toys (book pockets and intricate ILS systems). VERDICT This will certainly find an appreciative audience among parents concerned with more than just making sure the lunch box is filled and the kid isn’t dirty. Dudes who follow the “family first’ golden rule will appreciate the help this provides in making your kid an actual, thinking human being.

Find this review and others at Books for Dudes, the online reader's advisory column for men from Library Journal: see http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/cat.... Copyright Library Journal.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am left feeling slightly blah about this book. I thought it would give more insight on how to approach tough topics. Instead it just listed ethical questions to think about.

I found it worthwhile for me to read these ethical questions and think about things, but most of this is way too old for my kids and some of these things I don't ever think I will want my kids to be trying to decide right or wrong on.

I think this would be great for young adult discussion groups, but as far as a resource to "talk with your kids," I don't see myself using it as a guide.

[Rebecca Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-designed book for parents and educators to start some good conversation with junior high/high school age kids about things that matter in living life. I'm using it in a philosophy course to get the kids to start thinking about how they think! The sections on different philosophers is very good, and I like the sections on thinking critically as well.

Easy to use, and important to have those chats.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The introduction has some good guidelines and suggestions for how to have these conversations. The bulk of the book is different topics and scenarios as well as discussions of different philosophers and their ideas. I think it would fit in with my homeschool curriculum for coverage of ethics and philosophy.

[Sherri · Rating 4 out of 5]

will be more worthwhile when my child is older.

[Gello · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

had so much fun reading this with my kids! sparked many philosophical discussions!