Analysis Of Children: How To Raise A Moral Child By Robert Coles

How can children be raised to be good people? How do they develop strong values and moral characteristics that will guide them throughout their lives? The Moral Intelligence of Children: How to Raise a Moral Child by Robert Coles is a nonfiction book that is helpful in answering these important questions of parents. Robert Coles is not only the author of over eighty books, but is also child psychiatrist and professor emeritus at Harvard University. He has written over one thousand articles; nearly all of them concerned with human moral, spiritual, and social sensibility and reasoning, mainly in children but also in adults. Published by Plume Printing, this best-selling book guides the reader through the development of a child and explains …show more content…
Essentially, he explains that everything an adult does - regardless of whether or not said adult is the child’s biological parent - has an impact on the child’s morals. Coles recalls his own personal memories of when he was driving his son to the hospital: he was driving on a rainy day, splashing pedestrians on the street and ignoring traffic signals. When he missed a red light, his son intervened, “‘Dad, if we’re not careful, we’ll make more trouble on our way to getting out of trouble’” (Coles, 8). By reaching outside of himself and expressing such concern for others, Coles’ son demonstrated his own ethics and character; and at the same time, demonstrating the impact that a parent has on a …show more content…
As the fetus grows, the mother is already making moral decisions that will have a direct impact on her child. She keeps her child’s well-being in mind by keeping a healthy diet and visiting an obstetrician regularly, not only out of concern for her own health but also that of her future child. A man also expresses his morality in the pregnancy - by visiting the doctor with her and offering reassurance and comfort as someone who is deeply involved with this important event. “This attitude of caring, lived out daily, has direct consequences for that growing fetus: the earliest time in its life when the golden rule will decisively affect its life” (Coles, 63). A soon-to-be-mother that is giving careful thought to her pregnancy is acting out of moral conviction. She values herself and the child she is carrying, and as a result she will keep a close watch on what she does: medically, physically, and of course, morally.
The Elementary school years are referred to as “the age of conscience”. During these years, the child’s conscience and character is built. The child is exposed to endless possibilities in the forms of books, music, art, athletics, teachers, and other adults. The child becomes interested in learning how and why things work, and begins to mirror the adult they are closest to in the ways of behavior and actions, and how they treat