Just Because It's Not Wrong Doesn't Make It Right: Teaching Kids To Think And Act Ethically

by Barbara Coloroso

In her now-classic kids are worth it! , Barbara Coloroso offered solid advice and practical parenting techniques that above all preserved the dignity of both parent and child. Coloroso's underlying parenting vision ascribes to parents the responsibility to teach the next generation how to think, not just what to think, so that they may grow into the best people they can be.

Now, in this groundbreaking new book—a natural extension and a profound deepening of her original vision—Coloroso shows parents how to nurture their children's ethical lives, from preschool through adolescence.
 

There can be no more necessary book for our times.

We live in a world where children are so often given the message that the ends justify the means; where harmful, even violent behavior—in families, in communities, and around the world—goes unnoticed, unmitigated, and often unrepented; where children's ethical education can come from a T-shirt slogan or bumper sticker, an Internet site, or the evening news; where rigid moral absolutism or moral relativism has replaced true ethical thinking. In a world such as ours, Just Because It's Not Wrong Doesn't Make It Right is an essential tool.

Beginning with the idea that it is in us to care that we are born with an innate capacity for compassion and caring, Coloroso shows parents how to nurture and guide children's ethical lives from toddlerhood through the teen years using everyday situations at home, at school, in social settings, and in the world at large.

Rich in advice and anecdotes, Just Because It's Not Wrong Doesn't Make It Right offers no less than an ethical vision, one rooted in deep caring, by which we and succeeding generations may not only live, but thrive.


 

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Childrens

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 20, 2006

About the author

Barbara Coloroso is the author of the international bestseller Kids Are Worth It! and Parenting Through Crisis and is an acclaimed speaker on parenting, teaching, conflict, resolution, and grieving. Featured in Time, the New York Times, and on many radio and television shows, she lives with her husband in Littleton, Colorado.

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciate Barbara Coloroso's healthy approach to discipline, rather than a punitive or a permissive approach. She explains different parenting styles, and why the "Backbone" approach is most effective.
She addresses current issues facing our children in the digital/media age. She also addresses bullying, hazing and other damaging behaviors.
Beautiful quotes are sprinkled throughout the book, as well as references to other pertinent books and articles.
Coloroso promotes the values of caring deeply, sharing generously, and helping willingly to combat some of the muck and mire in this world.
My only critique of this book is that Coloroso seems to reject "religion" as a place to find answers, and embraces a love for humanity at the end. My question to her is, without an encounter with Christ, how can we truly know love? God is love. He is the source of love, so to leave Him out is a mistake.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another interesting look at how Barbara Coloroso wraps parenting and ethical common sense into a neat little bestselling package. I did find this book useful, in that it allowed me to reflect on my own ethical practices. I have always believed that it is very important to be a role model for younger children, and in reading Coloroso's similar view I found myself reflecting on what I could do to demonstrate this empathy and sympathy to other children. I once again disagree with her idea that rewards and recognition are absolutely useless in achieving this goal, as extrinsic motivation can evolve to intrinsic motivation. Overall, this was a good book for both reflection and in exercising my critical thinking skills about the theories presented.

[Lindsay Smith-Munoz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I could give this a higher score, but it had too many examples of the negative, and not enough examples of the positive, nor did it provide many specifics of helping kids be ethical.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful Barbara C.-- she has written another one of those parenting books where I feel like I really could go back and have a crack at it and do a worthy job this time around... the parts about children being addicted to the internet today were quite disturbing, on the other hand. As a grandparent-at-a-distance, I feel quite helpless.

I recommend this to parents with kids from 0 through their teens.. worth reading and making notes and trying out in your family!

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Barbara's Kids Are Worth It! is my go-to guide for reassurance and support in parenting. I don't think there's anything new in Just Because. As I got towards the end I wondered why it felt less satisfying than Kids- I think it is because it is more theoretical than practical. It certainly reinforces the messages in her other books, but I wonder if she intended it for a different audience.

[Ecki Stern · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful speaker, she came to our school to speak. Book is pretty much common sense stuff, tho, nothing particularly enlightening. Our culture is so unethical these days, it seems like an uphill battle trying to raise ethical kids.

[Jennifer Maddox - Watson]

Went to hear a talk by Barbara and really liked her practical ideas for parenting teens.

[Gemma]

I thought this was a parenting guide. This read more like a thesis on ethics.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this when my children were little. It greatly shaped my parenting.

[Luisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent excellent parenting resource.