Daniel A. Bochner, Ph.D.

How do you build a great kid? Well, shoot, they're just born great, aren't they?!!! Of course, even though that's somewhat true, it's really quite a bit more complicated than that. There are certain core values that must be instilled or implanted within our children, and particular ways in which they must develop resiliency, if they are to reach their maximum potential. This section offers articles about installing components of integrity, and helping children remain true to themselves with a powerful, protective personality structure of their own. In From Materialism to Integrity: The Building Blocks of the Healthy Human Personality, image and authenticity are contrasted, with a path toward growth clearly paved by the core values that make people good working parts of their community. How freedom tends to be balanced by responsibility is the subject examined in Freedom and Responsibility, with special emphasis on kids seeing that they must earn rewards, and on parents seeing that their kids should be given the freedom they earn. The demonstration of one's character is brought into focus in the article, Bullying, with an emphasis on indifference to the opinions of those who have no real bearing on one's life. In "Be a Man," the stereotypes regarding how boys are expected to act are challenged, and being true to oneself is encouraged. In "It Must be Hard to Be a Girl," the complex expectations on girls, based in the fact that they are really asked to do it all, is highlighted in demonstrating just how much girls and women should be appreciated.