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Recommended Reading: Books to Build Character & Teach Your Child Important Values

Teach Your Child Important ValuesAdapted from healthychildren.org

As a Bay Area pediatrician, I am often asked to recommend information sources, articles, and books on specific pediatric medical conditions as well as on parenting philosophies, discipline, empathy, social skills, and resilience.  

With so many sources of information available from peers, social media, news, advertising, streaming and broadcast media, young people are bombarded by competing messages designed to influence their evolving sense of ethics and morality.  Thankfully, parents can share a thoughtfully chosen book to help children recenter their moral compass. Then read together! Or with older kids and teens, set aside some time to discuss the book, its issues, and how they relate to your family’s values.  But where to find just the right book?

​​​​​The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Reach Out and Read have compiled the following list of books—organized by age and topic—to help you raise children who are aware of the world around them, curious, brave, kind, and thoughtful. Parents and caregivers are encouraged to review these titles in advance of sharing them with their children.

 

Sky Pittson, MD, FAAP