The other blogs focused on making sure the children know they are loved, cherished, and wanted. I”m changing directions now because they also must understand there are always rewards and consequences to their decisions.
As parents, we naturally want the best for our children. We want them or should want them to do better in life than we have. But, unfortunately, sometimes we are so overly protective of our children that we overlook reality.
As parents, we are the authority figure for our children. Therefore, they will follow our example (with repeated reminders, of course) because, in their minds, we are perfect.
Therefore, we must set a true example. If we lie by saying they won the race and didn’t, we teach them to lie because they also know the truth.
We also want to believe our children will tell us the truth, but we must know there are always two sides to every story. It is our job to find the truth in every scenario and act accordingly.
If the children are truthful with you, reward them for their honesty. If they were dishonest, correct them, and let them know why they are being corrected.
We must be vigilant about honesty and raise our children to be truthful in every situation, no matter the outcome.
Children and adults also must learn to control their situation and not let the situation control them. It’s tough to tell the truth when we know there will be harsh consequences from it.
For our children’s sake, we must learn always to do the right thing and not allow ourselves to be in the wrong situations. Our Holy Father even gave us instructions, “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” (Matt 5:37 NKJ)
So the lesson here is, always be truthful in all that you do.