Activities for Teaching Kids About Honesty

Teaching kids about honesty is an ongoing lesson. Almost all children go through a stage when they tell lies. While it happens at every age, dishonesty seems most common in the preschool and teenage years. With so many opportunities to stretch the truth a little for entertainment value, to make themselves seem more like they want to be or occasions where fibbing may seem like the only way to get .

Teaching a child honesty is difficult and essential. As a young child, they have not yet developed a true sense of what is right and wrong, and cannot understand the abstract nature of what it is to tell a lie. Children can and should learn to be honest. There area a number of lesson plans and activities that demonstrate honesty and help to reinforce it in kids.In the home there are a number of ways to reinforce honesty. Give power to things that children do right an deny them attention for things they do wrong. Children prefer positive attention, like praise and reward, over negative attention and prefer negative attention, such as punishment and rebuke, over no attention at all. Praise and give attention to children as much as possible to insure that they are not seeking negative attention. When children lie, make clear that the lie has not gone unnoticed, but otherwise give it as little attention as possible. Model honesty by always telling children the truth. Children are intelligent and will catch adults in lies, which gives them moral permission to do the same. Finally, do not put children in a position where they feel pressured to lie. Rather than asking a question like "Did you break the vase?", ask "When did you break the vase?" or ask them to help clean up the vase that they broke. These and other tips are available at the Parenting Page of Kaboose.com http://parenting.kaboose.com/behavior/issues/why-kids-lie-and-how-you-can-encourage-honesty-avoid-setting-traps.html.Read children the story of Peter's denial of Christ at the crucifixion. Talk about why it was a lie, and how it lead Peter to feelings of bitterness and remorse. Also, look at how Peter went on to do good things. Helps kids focus on how Peter did not let the lie define him or follow with him. This and other Biblical lessons on honesty are available at http://www.kidssundayschool.com/Gradeschool/Topics/Pages/truthfulness.php.