Talk with Your Kids | Michael Parker

Would you rather your child be smart or good? Many families and almost all schools spend a great deal of time academically developing their children. But, according to philosopher and educator Michael Parker, academic achievement is not the only important aspect of raising a child. Developing non-cognitive skills is equally relevant to success. The main way children learn these skills is from their parents. Talk With Your Kids prompts thoughtful and effective discussion by posing 101 questions and their logical progressions, which are sometimes multiple and contradictory. Many of the questions reflect situations that matter immediately to kids including cyber-bullying, cheating in school or in sports, accepting difference, illegal music downloads, what defines lying, or the variables of friendship. Other questions ask kids to consider larger dilemmas including questions about medical testing, declaring war, crime and punishment, eating meat and more.Throughout the book are profiles and questions based on the thoughts of famous ethicists and philosophers including John Stuart Mill, Immanuel Kant, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean Jacques Rousseau. Nine conversations focus on thinking skills including: being reciprocal, using criteria, fact vs. opinion, ethical pitfalls, generalisations, being consistent, lousy arguments, being comprehensive, and universalising. Parker also offers suggestions to parents on how to keep the conversations going and encourage kids to think even more deeply about an issue.