Motivate Your Child, by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller

     After years of searching, I have finally found the parenting resource I've been looking for.  Motivate Your Child is the first tool I've seen that finally acknowledges that the conscience of a child needs to be trained before your child is expected to know right from wrong.  Other, more popular, parenting programs assume that your child already has this skill.  And that's a fail, in my opinion, because kids don't always know right from wrong in every occasion.  And for the teachers who are reading this, you already know that there are kids who almost never know right from wrong.  

     This book won't get the credit it is due (A) Because it doesn't have a catchy title and (B) It doesn't have a marketing machine getting it in the hands of every parent and teacher in the country.  What it does have is a keen understanding of what makes children and teens tick.  So it's definitely worth more than a look.

     Here's what you'll get from reading this book:
-    A discussion of a child's conscience and why it needs to
     actually be trained before you can expect a child to
     understand society's rules.

-    An understanding that strong-willed children are already
     internally motivated to do what they want and will naturally

     challenge any other system of reward and consequence

     (even natural consequences) that are put on them.  

-    A guide toward helping your child develop the ability to

     question his/her motives in a difficult situation and to

     analyze not just the appropriateness of his actions, but to

     determine what a better choice would have been.

-    A discussion of natural vs. logical consequences and in

     what cases each technique is more appropriate than the

     other.

-    A guide toward helping your child become a person of  

     integrity who is able to make choices that are best for him

     or her independent of a parent telling them what to do

     every step of the way.

     This is a Christian book.  The second half of the book is a wonderful resource on how to bring more spirituality into your family without being overbearing about it.

     However, the tools in the first half of the book are relevant to anyone, Christian or not.  I personally used suggestions from the first half to help some of my students learn how to make better choices in social interaction.  It worked better than any other technique I've tried in over 15 years of teaching.  

     I highly recommend this book to anyone who works with children.  These authors understand kids better than any other I've read.

     Disclaimer:  I was provided this book by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

     Five out of Five Stars