Raising Children with Character: Parents, Trust, and the Development of Personal Integrity [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Berger (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0765702142 | ISBN-13: 978-0765702142 | Publication Date: December 1, 1999

Parents and clinicians share a deep interest in promoting children's personal maturity and character development. Dr. Elizabeth Berger, mother, child psychiatrist, and educator, addresses this concern by calling upon her own personal experiences and professional expertise.

The goal of therapists and parents alike is to understand children's emerging character, recruiting the wise and mature aspects of the personality in an effort to surmount difficulties. Dr. Berger identifies general themes in the intimate relationship between parent and child and shows how to support and enhance the forward direction of the child's character growth. Rich vignettes illustrate how ordinary family interactions involving issues such as authority, sharing, schoolwork, money, sexuality, and others can promote this growth process. Concentrating on the long-term unfolding of the child's inner spirit, the parents' mission is redefined, as struggles over behavior management give way to learning to trust and enhance the child's emerging maturity. Addressing both parents and clinicians, this intelligent, well-written, and thought-provoking book offers practical advice and deep understanding of the emotional bond between parent and child.

A Jason Aronson Book

Editorial Reviews

Review

Authored by a parent and child psychiatrist, this book is instructive both for parents and educators. It spells out insightfully the 'whys and hows' that lead to healthy child development, self-discovery, good citizenship, and true consideration for others. Richly illustrated with many clinical vignettes, it provides a basic approach to forestall and resolve the growing wave of child violence. (Ruth F. Lax )

Raising Children with Character offers a wise, sensible perspective and pragmatic guidance for parents trying to raise ethical, compassionate children. Dr. Berger focuses on intimacy, relationships, and intelligent, self-confident parental authority. She gives the reader numerous clinical jewels and sensitive wisdom to learn from in this thoughtful, informative book. (Alvin Rosenfeld )

There is hardly a single paragraph in the entire book that isn't worth quoting. (Suburban Express )

Praise for the previous edition: Extremely valuable....this book is full of words of wisdom about parenting and is highly recommended to professionals, parents, educators, and all those interested in the welfare of children. (Journal Of The American Academy Of Child And Adolescent Psyc )

In a sea of books on child rearing and development that focus on or blame nature or nurture, it is a joy to welcome Raising Children with Character. It espouses mutuality and interaction and, unashamedly, love as the catalyst to healthy character formation. The text is written in an easygoing style that encourages readers to participate by calling to mind their own vignettes and examples. The case reports are informative and show the working interactions of a sensitive clinician with her patients from all walks of life, without the jargon of the profession. Designed for everyone from therapists to parents, Dr. Berger's text provided me with new insights even after thirty years of my own practice. (Shapiro, Theodore )

Praise for the previous edition: "Extremely valuable....this book is full of words of wisdom about parenting and is highly recommended to professionals, parents, educators, and all those interested in the welfare of children." (Journal Of The American Academy Of Child And Adolescent Psyc )

About the Author

Elizabeth Berger, M.D., is a board certified child and adolescent psychiatrist with more than twenty years' experience treating children and families in community settings, hospitals, and private practice. She has been on the faculty of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Northwestern University Medical School, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and MCP-Hahnemann School of Medicine. Dr. Berger has participated in numerous panels, public forums, and radio and television programs addressing parents' concerns about their children. She lives in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, with her husband and two teenage children.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 234 pages
• Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc. (December 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765702142
• ISBN-13: 978-0765702142
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #711,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every Parent Must Read!, February 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Raising Children with Character: Parents, Trust, and the Development of Personal Integrity (Hardcover)

I take parenting very seriously and have read numerous books on various psychological aspects of child rearing, but this one finally puts it all together! It is an easily understandable description of the stages of a child's emotional development. It also specifically provide tools and techniques for parents to constructively support their children individually asthey develop. Dr. Berger has truly provided me with the roadmap to allowing my children to be themselves and the appropriate methods for their support in this process!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Parenting Guide for Nurturing Character!, February 25, 2000

By 

Joshua Kates, MSW, ACSW (______www.marriagematters.com) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Raising Children with Character: Parents, Trust, and the Development of Personal Integrity (Hardcover)

Dr. Elizabeth Berger, M.D. has created a supremely intelligent and comprehensible guide for parents who are raising children. We are taught to navigate the path to helping our children develop character and integrity. Through her obviously vast clinical experiences, Dr. Berger helps parents--or anyone raising children--understand ways to nurture children toward being loving and responsible people. In doing so, she reminds us of the qualities needed to be those loving and responsible people ourselves. As a clinician, I am delighted that I can now offer this book to any of my clients with children.

5.0 out of 5 stars Took me way too long to find such excellent insight, January 28, 2012

By 

InPursuitofGentleWholeness - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Raising Children with Character: Parents, Trust, and the Development of Personal Integrity (Hardcover)

I frequently peruse the parenting sections of bookstores, check out parenting books from my local library, and seek out parenting advice and insight online, too. I wish I had found this book eons ago! Seriously....so much explained in just the first couple of chapters. Key ideas in psychological development of children are succinctly and clearly explained. Lightbulbs went off everywhere for me. What a great read.