How to Teach Your Children the Importance of Telling the Truth

< 1 min read

 

One way to teach your children the importance of telling the truth is with a word picture.  Most kids don’t necessarily understand how hard you work for your family, but they do understand that when you get your paycheck, you deposit it into a bank. Then the bank pays you a little something called interest for keeping your money there.

Deposits in your “Trust Account”

In the same way, explain to your children that each time they tell the truth, a deposit is made in your “trust account.” The more deposits that are made, the more you trust them. And thus, the more privileges they earn in return.

Dividends for your Children

Initially, the returns on their deposits might be spending the night out at a friend’s house or staying up a bit later on a weekend. As their account grows, bigger dividends might be a cell phone, texting and even driving a car.  As I’ve mentioned before in a previous blog on Privileges vs. Entitlements, these things aren’t just automatic.

Depleting your Trust Account

Your children need to know that if just one lie is told to you, it can completely deplete their trust account with you. Then they’ll have to start from scratch to make deposits to build up that trust once again.

One idea for helping your kids understand this principle is to use Monopoly money as a visual to demonstrate the deposits and withdrawals from their “Trust Account.”

What are some other creative ways you can think of?

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