How to Teach a Child Honesty

Honesty is one of the many challenging values you must teach your child. In their younger years, children don't truly understand the harmful consequences of being dishonest, so they test with fibs. It takes years to instill a sense of honesty in a child, and it takes a great deal of patience on a parent's part. The following steps give you some helpful tools.

Instructions

1. Model honesty for your child. The most important tool any parent can use is practicing what you teach. If you lie to your children or they overhear you lie to someone else, they think it is acceptable behavior.

2. Encourage your child to tell the truth and to share their thoughts and feelings with you. If they know they can be honest with you about what's on their mind without you getting mad or critical, they see that honesty is the best approach.

3. Avoid questions that make it easy for kids to lie. If you already know your child spilled her juice on the carpet, don't ask "Did you spill this juice?" This question encourages kids to lie to stay out of trouble. Instead simply say, "Please clean up your spilled juice."

4. Be mindful of little white lies, how you use them and how you explain them to your child. You don't want your child to be so honest that she hurts someone's feelings. Even if she hates the dress her grandma made for her, she needs to learn how to say something generic instead of being brutally honest.

5. Give praise when your child tells the truth, particularly if you've reprimanded her before for lying. Praise boosts self confidence and encourages positive behavior.

6. Don't lose your temper when your child lies. Take the circumstance and turn it into a teaching experience by asking her, "How do you think you should have handled this?" This approach works much better than simply scolding harshly and punishing her.

Tips & Warnings

• It's fun to kid around and tease your child, but don't overdo it. Too much sarcasm and kidding can lead your child to constantly question your truthfulness. It's gone too far if he's always asking, "Really?"

• Never call your child a liar. She could learn to think of herself this way and take on more dishonesty.