20 Teachable Virtues: Practical Ways to Pass on Lessons of Virtue (Perigee) [Paperback]

Jerry Wyckoff (Author)

Book Description

Series: Perigee | Publication Date: August 1, 1995

America is currently looking to the family to solve the ills of modern-day society. This book provides parents with the tools to instill character in their children--through caring, communication and example. Includes chapters on empathy, helpfulness, fairness, caring, courage, respect, loyalty, and much more.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Without sanctimony and without moralizing, the authors of Discipline Without Shouting or Spanking tackle the knotty and formidable task of transmitting fundamental moral lessons to children. Their straightforward approach assigns a chapter to each selected virtue, starting with Empathy and running through Courage, Loyalty and Peacemaking to Cooperating. Clearheaded discussions of the role each virtue plays in daily life and examples of how neglecting its practice can disrupt home life accompany realistic suggestions for parents to seize "teachable moments," when lessons can be imparted to offspring without sermonizing. A valuable recurring section titled "Warning" urges parents to practice what they subtly preach (e.g., don't expect a child to learn respect if his or private space is routinely violated). This compelling, down-to-earth and useful guide deserves a place on any parenting how-to shelf.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade (August 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399519599
• ISBN-13: 978-0399519598
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,197,460 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book and worth of reading, August 4, 2004

By 

dchss007 "dchss007" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 20 Teachable Virtues: Practical Ways to Pass on Lessons of Virtue (Perigee) (Paperback)

This book is written for parents/families with children of any age - from young children through the teenage years. Each chapter has an example family that is having a problem with a virtue covered in a chapter. In most chapters, the siblings in the family argue and do not get along. Well, not only this book has great ideas and examples of how families can teach different virtues to their children, but it also shows examples how to encourage the siblings in the family to get along and be kind to each other.

The structure of the book allows you to read any chapter as you choose. You don't have to read it from the beginning to the end. Say, your family has a problem with Respect - you can open a chapter on Respect and read it all by itself.

I found this book to be very refreshing. The chapter on Respect is a great one. If you want to teach your children Respect, YOU have to respect them and treat them with respect. For example, the book suggests treating your children, as they were guests in your house. It does not mean you have to serve them and drop all the rules. All it means - you will not yell at your guests for spilling a juice on the table and tell how clumsy they (your guests) are. Then why should you yell at your children?

This book is not only for "middle Americans living in a white suburb" - all children of all ages need to have empathy and respect to self and to others. I don't think it's meant to be applied in the classrooms. This book is written for parents raising children - working or staying home. Also, I don't think that the book "makes an assumption that parents are O.K". I think a lot of parents, while they read this book, may revalue their own behavior and the way they handle different situations and their own children.

The review above says: "parents need to be less arrogant and realize that we teach virtues to children by modeling our own virtuous behavior. This is probably the major failing in this book". I disagree with this remark. This is the message of the book - if you want to teach your children the virtues, you have to live your life by them.

Great book.

32 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful behavioral approach to raising young children, May 19, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: 20 Teachable Virtues: Practical Ways to Pass on Lessons of Virtue (Perigee) (Paperback)

Various virtues are examined from a behavioral/psychological approach. The commentary in terms of implementation seems to be focused on a small child or young inexperienced parent. My impression was the virtues were randomly selected without much order and connnection. I thought that the reccomendations were applicable to middle Americans living in a white suburb. The title teachable implied implied that these might be used in a classroom, It would have been nice to see a chapter or appendix suggesting how it might be used at school. After all, the problem that most parents are having is a lack of time and most teachers spend more time with children in today's culture than parents. This lack of time was not addressed by the authors. Finally, the book made the assumption that parents are O.K. and they themselves don't have room for improving their own virtues. I think all of us especially parents need to be less arrogant and realize that we teach virtues to children by modeling our own virtuous behavior. This is probably the major failing in this book. The writing style seemed choppy and made it difficult to follow the points of the authors.