Raising Kids Who Will Make a Difference: Helping Your Family Live with Integrity, Value Simplicity, and Care for Others [Paperback]

Susan V. Vogt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2002

Raising kids to be socially conscious and embrace strong values can be difficult in today's world. In Raising Kids Who Will Make a Difference, mother, counselor, and family-life educator Susan Vogt sets out to inspire, equip, and comfort parents in the awesome task of raising Catholic kids who will make positive contributions to our world. Using a delightful blend of honesty and humor, Vogt offers successful parenting strategies and straightforward discussions on important issues such as sexuality, substance abuse, materialism, racism, global awareness, and death.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Yes, your kids can
make a difference!

As a mother of four children ages fifteen
to twenty-seven, author Susan Vogt knows
intimately what it is to feel vulnerable and
unsure in parenting. In her unique and
thoughtful guide to raising socially conscious
children, Vogt acknowledges that there are
no guarantees in parenting while offering
creative and realistic parenting strategies.
With insights based on years of experience
as a counselor and family-life educator,
personal anecdotes, reflections by her children
on what worked and what didn’t, and the
stories of other families, she sets out to
inspire, equip, and comfort parents in their
awesome task of raising kids who will
make a difference.

“This is one of the most creative and
engaging books that I’ve read in a long
time. The author and the entire Vogt
family speak through its pages, offering
us their hard-earned treasures of
parenting and being parented.”
—H. Richard McCord
Executive Director, Committee
on Marriage and Family Life,
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

“Vogt writes with a delightful blend of
wry humor, candor, and sensitive selfrevelation.
The section in each chapter
written by Vogt’s children on her efforts
to be a responsible parent add to the
fun and practical value of this book.”
—Joe H. Leonard
Director, Family Ministries
and Human Sexuality, National
Council of the Churches of Christ
in the USA

“This book is more real than any other
book on parenting I’ve ever seen;
it helps parents aim high and think
through possibilities without a guilt
trip about being less than perfect.”
—Kathleen Finley
Author, The Seeker’s Guide to
Building a Christian Marriage

 

Yes, your kids can
make a difference!

As a mother of four children ages fifteen
to twenty-seven, author Susan Vogt knows
intimately what it is to feel vulnerable and
unsure in parenting. In her unique and
thoughtful guide to raising socially conscious
children, Vogt acknowledges that there are
no guarantees in parenting while offering
creative and realistic parenting strategies.
With insights based on years of experience
as a counselor and family-life educator,
personal anecdotes, reflections by her children
on what worked and what didn’t, and the
stories of other families, she sets out to
inspire, equip, and comfort parents in their
awesome task of raising kids who will
make a difference.

“This is one of the most creative and
engaging books that I’ve read in a long
time. The author and the entire Vogt
family speak through its pages, offering
us their hard-earned treasures of
parenting and being parented.”
—H. Richard McCord
Executive Director, Committee
on Marriage and Family Life,
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

“Vogt writes with a delightful blend of
wry humor, candor, and sensitive selfrevelation.
The section in each chapter
written by Vogt’s children on her efforts
to be a responsible parent add to the
fun and practical value of this book.”
—Joe H. Leonard
Director, Family Ministries
and Human Sexuality, National
Council of the Churches of Christ
in the USA

“This book is more real than any other
book on parenting I’ve ever seen;
it helps parents aim high and think
through possibilities without a guilt
trip about being less than perfect.”
—Kathleen Finley
Author, The Seeker’s Guide to
Building a Christian Marriage

 

About the Author

Susan V. Vogt is the director of the Family Ministry Office of the Diocese of Covington, Kentucky. She presents workshops around the world in connection with the Parenting for Peace and Justice Network. She is the author of Just Family Nights and a coauthor of Kids Creating Circles of Peace. She and her husband, Jim, are the parents of four children.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Loyola Press; First Edition, First edition (September 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0829417923
• ISBN-13: 978-0829417920
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #954,421 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Raising Kids Who Will Make a Difference, February 6, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Raising Kids Who Will Make a Difference: Helping Your Family Live with Integrity, Value Simplicity, and Care for Others (Paperback)

This is a surprising book! I usually don't like books that tell you how to raise your kids. I end up feeling guilty about all the things I did wrong that the author did right and I hate books that give a formula for parenting perfectly.

Vogt's book does just the opposite. She acknowledges that her parenting was less than perfect and her suggestions allow for a wide variety of approaches.

Best of all the author has put together a unique book that includes her ideas and principles on twelve different topics, observations from seasoned parents and reactions from their chlidren. She also puts in resources, exercises and great stories that kept my attention throughout.

I received this book as a gift and started reading it with reluctance but it just go better and better with every page. I especially like what Vogt's own kids had to say about the way they were raised and while they resisted some of their parent's idealism they turned out ok. Their daughter who wrote some of the funniest stories in the book is now serving in the Peace Corp.

Raising Kids... would make a great book on parenting and teaching values but it would also be a great read about how generations interact and approach topics from very different perspectives. I kept reading whole sections aloud to my wife while she was trying to read her own book.

This may be the best book I have ever read on parenting and sharing values with children.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gift for grandparents to pass on, November 27, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Raising Kids Who Will Make a Difference: Helping Your Family Live with Integrity, Value Simplicity, and Care for Others (Paperback)

My own children are grown with children of their own but I'm still a concerned parent and grandparent and Raising Kids who will make a Difference gives me hope. So much of what I read and see on TV disturbs me these days and I tell my adult children that I think it's a lot harder to be a parent today than it was a generation ago. I think Raising Kids Who Will Make a Difference can help. It combines the practicality of Dr. Spock that guided my parenting with the inspiration of spiritual leaders like Jesus and Gandhi and wraps them all up in age old values and wisdom that Vogt somehow manages to convey with a modern and accessible tone. I think ordinary parents will find they can relate to it, It's not just written with "super-parents" in mind. I felt consoled to know I did a lot of things right in my own parenting and that even my regrets are shared by other good parents.

Even though my active parenting days are over, I want to give this book to my children and the other young parents I know to help them get a good start. As Vogt says, "Start young....it's a lot easier to limit TV to an hour a day when the child is a toddler and gradually allow extensions than to announce to a preteen that the family is going to cut back on TV. If the rule has always been that everybody pitches in to clean house on Saturday, it won't meet with the resistance that some parents experience when they try to implement new policies that they picked up from a parenting class or from reading a book such as this one. If you're too late for the start young approach, approach your family gently and include everyone in the decision-making process." It makes a parent want to stretch but without guilt.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Wise Book, October 17, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Raising Kids Who Will Make a Difference: Helping Your Family Live with Integrity, Value Simplicity, and Care for Others (Paperback)

I really love this book. I'm in agreement with many of Susan Vogt's thoughts, but even if I weren't, her even-handed approach to her subject matter and her respect for her readers would impress me. Anyone looking for insight into helping their children to become adults of integrity, self-discipline, and compassion will find lots of wisdom here. The inclusion of her own children's perspectives is a delightful bonus. And Susan V's daughter Heidi is a fine writer (must be genetic!).