Parents Do Make A Difference

Parents Do Make A Difference!
How to Raise Kids with Solid Character, Strong Minds, and Caring Hearts

by Michele Borba, Ed.D.

Finally, a book that shows you how to teach kids the indispensable skills they'll need for living confident, happy and productive lives. Filled with literally dozens of simple, proven strategies, step-by-step advice, practical ideas, and real-life examples, Parents Do Make A Difference puts field-tested tools into the hands of every parent and teacher who want their children to succeed.

The Blueprint for raising happy, decent and successful kids!

This Book Includes:

Practical Information for daily use
Activities
Helpful Tips
Assessment Quizzes
Research
Heartwarming Stories

Table of Contents
Do You Need This Book
Reader's Guide: Parents Do Make A Difference
Reviews from Readers and Experts
Book Excerpt: Five Ways to Help Kids Stay Cool

"Why is it important to affirm a child? Because a child who is truly accepted by his parents... can grow up learning to accept himself... He'll be able to admit his own failures and weaknesses. He'll be able to forget about himself and love others."
Anne Ortlund

The Eight Indispensible Skills of Success

Research clearly tells us there are eight skills that matter most in raising kids with solid character, strong minds, and caring hearts. These skills will benefit every child - any gender, economic background, culture, temperament or learning ability. These skills are also timeless - they will be important to our kids' lives next year as well as years from now.

Parents Do Make A Difference by Dr. Michele Borba is a practical manual for parents and teachers filled with step-by-step advice and dozens of proven simple ways to teach kids these 8 essential success skills:

Personal Success Skills

Positive Self-Esteem
Helps your child develop an optimistic, “I can do it attitude,” because she’s developed strong self-beliefs and believes she can succeed.
Cultivating Strengths
Helps your child recognize his strengths, compensate for his limitations, and enhance his self-confidence, so he can increase his personal potential.

Emotional Success Skills

Communicating
Helps your child listen attentively, speak up, and get her message across to increase knowledge, develop acceptance, and reduce misunderstandings.
Problem Solving
Helps your child learn to rely on himself because he has learned a repertoire of skills to calmly solve problems and make responsible decisions.
The Skill of Social Success Getting Along
Helps your child be more cooperative by developing critical interpersonal skills to develop and maintain friendships and deal with stormy relationships.

Motivational Success Skills

Goal Setting
Helps your child be more self-motivated because she has the skills to choose a goal, develop a plan to achieve it, then stay on course towards success.
Not Giving Up
Helps your child persevere because he knows that personal effort is critical to success and understands that mistakes are not fatal.

Moral Success Skills

Caring
Helps your child be more compassionate and empathetic and think about the needs and feels of others. It’s our best hope to help our kids will live in a world of tolerance and peace.

© 1999 by Michele Borba. Adapted from Parents Do Make A Difference: How to Raise Kids with Solid Character, Strong Minds, and Caring Hearts. Jossey-Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94104. 1999. $18.00 paperback, 320 pages. ISBN 0-7879-4605-2