Go into any bookshop nowadays, and a brief search will yield an armful of books on 'parenting.' The large chain-stores have entire sections devoted to this subject. I once counted over 120 different titles on parenting in just one bookshop.

It has been estimated that in nine out of every ten books bought, the purchaser doesn't read beyond the first chapter. Sometimes, during stressful or overwhelming times, I've wished that my parenting responsibilities could be like reading a book – handing them over to someone else one my enthusiasm wanes after the first chapter!

Ever feel like that?

The recent – and welcome - proliferation of parenting-based books, magazines, and radio and TV programmes mirrors the society in which our children are being reared, influence by, and exposed to.

Us parents can 'take it or leave it' when it comes to our much-expanded choices in getting advice, guidance, help, support, insights, clarity or recovery regarding our parenting roles. So, too, our children are similarly faced with an ever-expanding list of potential choices about what's important to them fulfilling their duties as children.

So how do we guide and train our children to make prudent choices from the dazzling array of modern-day temptations, purchases, experiences, options, choices and opt-outs?

As in every good question, the answer is contained within. The key words are 'prudent,' and 'choices.'

Now, I have to admit that I don't use the word 'prudent' or its variations – prudence, imprudence, prudently - on any regular basis. It sounds and feels like an old-fashioned word, doesn't it?

Indeed, what does 'prudent' mean? In my parents' time, prudence would have been considered to be a virtue. "A what?" (Ah, yes, now there's another word we don't hear a lot of in the twenty-first century – virtue.)

Prudence is all about choosing the good. As such, when making a prudent choice, I will not lose sight of the greater purpose of what I am doing. I would go so far as to echo the words of wiser men than me by saying that prudence is a necessary cornerstone for good living.

Acting with prudence means making choices that are consistent with the attainment of longer-term or greater goals, as well as choices that are consistent with one's values. Thus, prudence requires a good degree of intellectual development, and the ability to discern what is good, bad, healthy, right, worthwhile, and so on.

It becomes clear, then, that a three-year-old cannot act prudently. So, parents have to make all those choices on behalf of their youngster.

But what about a thirteen-year-old? What about your sixteen-year-old who looks like making an imprudent choice about an area of her life that could have lasting and dramatic results? If you're that parent, what can you do?