How to Raise Kind Kids: And Get Respect, Gratitude, and a Happier Family in the Bargain

Lickona (Raising Good Children) offers practical if old-fashioned advice about raising kids with good character amid an increasingly politically toxic and entitled cultural context. Parents will be heartened by studies showing that kindness­—a concern for the happiness of others, driven by goodness—is a human capacity from an early age. However, Lickona’s alarmist just-say-no attitudes toward the challenges of electronic device use and teen sexuality limit his work’s applicability to 21st-century problems. Similarly, one of his preferred teaching methods, stories with moral messages like the Narnia series, will be too heavy-handed for many modern kids. A long list of conversation starters for families feels significantly more timeless, and the author’s general call to be more present for the other people in one’s life would be well-heeded. Lickona does not throw much of a lifeline to families in crisis, but he projects a strong attitude, supported by a solid toolbox of ideas, to make kindness and its associated virtues a daily presence in homes and schools from the start, and to tweak already functional families into becoming the best people they can be. Agent: Robin Straus, Robin Straus Agency. (Apr.)