Book excerpt: From raunchy television shows to immoral peers, the barriers to raising moral and mature children are higher and more treacherous than ever. In Raising Upright Kids in an Upside-Down World, acclaimed Catholic psychologist Dr. Ray Guarendi offers parents a roadmap through this difficult and sometimes frightening terrain. Dr. Ray brings to bear his decades of clinical experience—and his experience as a father of ten—with some of the hardest questions of modern parenting: How do you manage kids' access to pop culture—and to the corporations who all want a piece of their allowance? How do you respond to others, including your own family, who don't approve of your countercultural parenting? How do you handle the overabundance of stuff—toys, clothes, technology—that clogs up your family's everyday life? When do you give (or take away) a smartphone? How much freedom do you give your kids to choose their own friends—and when do you step in when they make wrong choices? What are the habits of mind you need to form in them so they can stand strong against a morally and spiritually corrosive culture? Raising Upright Kids in an Upside-Down World is a clarion call for strong, confident parenting in confusing times. More importantly, Dr. Ray gives you the resources to grow in that confidence: the knowledge of an expert, the insight of an experienced clinician, and the wisdom of decades of fatherhood. This is a book for parents who aim to form children who value the things of God, no matter the work and the effort. Dr. Ray is here to tell you: it's worth it.