Parenting Tips: How to Raise Honest Kids….

We all know that as a parent, we tell little white lies to our kids. We don’t tell them when things are bad, scary, or when we are planning what to get them for their birthday. As a parent, many of us talk about the Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, and Tooth Fairies. It is just part of what we do. However, we get frustrated when our kids tell us they didn’t eat the last cookie when they still have crumbs on their face. How do we as simple human beings change it so that our kids are honest? Luckily, this is a big question with a relatively easy answer…

Prove There Is NO Benefit to It!

There is no real benefit to telling a lie. However, we often give them a benefit by punishing them for the truth. Think about when Sally hit Dan at the park. You asked Sally, and she said she did it. You made her leave the park as punishment whereas had she said she didn’t, you would have let her play for another 10-minutes.

Instead, when they say yes, tell them, “Thank you for being honest. I knew what you did and was asking to see if you would admit to it. You did. Go say sorry and we can play a little longer. Had you lied, we would have left right now.” This shows them that there is more of a consequence for being dishonest.

Encourage Life’s Lessons in Honesty

Let’s say your kids are playing outside and find something they know belongs to the boy down the street. Do you let them keep it or have them return it? If you want to raise honest kids, you should encourage them to do the honest thing.

For this, you can point out that if it were their toy, they would want it back. Express that if that kid was to see them playing with it, he would be upset and maybe not play with them anymore. Talk about trust and how trust could be broken.

If you find a wallet in the store, do you turn it in at the register or do you go through it first? Your kids will one day be faced with similar situations. What do you want them to do? If you want to teach them to not lie, you have to show them all the times that lying would be not-okay.