Creating Compassionate Kids: Essential Conversations to Have with Young Children

by Shauna Tominey

Selected as a "Favorite Book for Parents in 2019" by  Greater Good . Young children can surprise us with tough questions. Tominey’s essential guide teaches us how to answer them and foster compassion along the way. If you had to choose one word to describe the world you want children to grow up in, what would it be? Safe? Understanding? Resilient? Compassionate? As parents and caregivers of young children, we know what we want for our children, but not always how to get there. Many children today are stressed by academic demands, anxious about relationships at school, confused by messages they hear in the media, and overwhelmed by challenges at home. Young children look to the adults in their lives for everything. Sometimes we’re prepared... sometimes we’re not.  In this book, Shauna Tominey guides parents and caregivers through how to have conversations with young children about a range of topics-from what makes us who we are (e.g., race, gender) to tackling challenges (e.g., peer pressure, divorce, stress) to showing compassion (e.g., making friends, recognizing privilege, being a helper). Talking through these topics in an age-appropriate manner―rather than telling children they are too young to understand―helps children recognize how they feel and how they fit in with the world around them. This book provides sample conversations, discussion prompts, storybook recommendations, and family activities. Dr. Tominey's research-based strategies and practical advice creates dialogues that teach self-esteem, resilience, and empathy: the building blocks for a more compassionate world.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

Published January 8, 2019

Reviews

[Deidre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to live in the world this book is hoping to create. I love the sample conversations and I think they make the lessons of the book easy to understand. An example of a conversation is a parent talking to a four year old about a grandparent’s transphobia, or about another adult in a restaurant who was rude to a family with a child on the autism spectrum. There were so many lovely discussions, about death, about jealousy, about how to be kind to other people. Just lovely.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend who is an elementary school counselor told me about this book. I had to borrow it from another library, but we now have it on order. It talks about the importance of talking with your child and breaks into chapters building self-awareness, fostering resilience, and promoting compassion. It gives a lot of model conversations. It also includes booklists for children. This book should be widely read and distributed.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

For those who might need conversation starters. Book addresses talking with rather than talking to. A bit too over simplistic (ie scissors).

[Carl Hoopingarner II · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every parent should read this.