g them constant encouragement to stop and think and to take the viewpoint of others into consideration. Children who think about and discuss moral issues make better headway through the stages of moral reasoning than children who don't.
Have your children complete chores and jobs around the house, take responsibility for their own homework, or take care of a younger sister or brother, an ill family member, or animals. Volunteering, service projects, and giving to a charity provide an opportunity to give of self through responsible action.
Children need limits with independence, roots, and wings. Finding the balance can be tricky. Too much parental control can lead children to rebel and make poor choices just to get some freedom. Too much freedom leads to children feeling overwhelmed - having too much power before they are ready for it. With an overabundance of freedom, children may get the idea that parents don't really care what they do or what kind of person they become.
Parental love helps a child take in parental values and rules. Parents who spend quality and quantity time with their children as well as love them abundantly have children who have higher levels of moral development.
Helping children grow morally and making good families are really the same thing. When you're doing one, you'll be doing the other.
A close family gives children people to identify with, examples to learn from, values and traditions to uphold, and a support system to turn to in times of need. When children feel connected to the family, they've got a rudder that helps them hold to a course of responsible conduct in the face of pressure from peers.
Raising Good Children, by Thomas Lickona, Bantam Books, 1983.
For more information, visit the Human Development and Family Life website at: http://www.hec.ohio-state.edu/famlife/
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Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ag. Adm. and Director, OSU Extension.
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