Raising Kids Who Care: Practical Conversations for Exploring Stuff that Matters, Together

Lee, a former family consultant for churches, debuts with an empathetic program for how parents can facilitate thoughtful conversations with their children. She outlines a conversation template for discussing relationships, culture, “inner selves,” and one’s purpose, suggesting readers break down their talks into six steps: identify conversation goals, think through the major issues up for discussion, and prepare ahead of time, then conduct the conversation, recap, and implement lessons learned. For example, to help kids differentiate between needs and wants, Lee recommends families place sticky notes on the household items they couldn’t live without and then discuss everyone’s choices, asking, “Did anything stand out or surprise you?” and considering if items that weren’t tagged might be donated. Other conversation prompts describe how to explore what families can do to make a difference in the lives of others, how to be a good friend, and what screen time limits are appropriate for one’s family. The primary virtue of Lee’s framework is its flexibility, offering a structure for considering a broad variety of topics. However, her silence on how to resolve disagreements that might arise from the discussion of “critical social issues” (sections focus on ameliorating poverty and climate change) feels like an oversight. Still, parents will appreciate the advice. (Self-published)