I interviewed dozens of experts, observed hundreds of students in both the United States and abroad and surveyed over 10,000 teachers. They became the seven essential virtues. But there are parenting books about moral development. But in these troubling times, parents need far more if they are to succeed in helping their kids buck the steady barrage of immoral messages they receive. Building Moral Intelligence provides ways to teach kids critical moral behaviors so they do act as well as think right.
Research says learning new habits usually take at least three weeks.
So I tell parents to choose any virtue they think is important and reinforce virtue's habits for that month. A virtue a month is more realistic and there's also a greater likelihood that the child will actually learn a new moral behavior. The mistake parents often make is waiting until their kids are older to begin. Delaying only increases children's potential for learning destructive negative habits and make it so much harder to change. The sooner we begin, the greater chance we have to build solid moral habits.