Teaching Children to Have Integrity
Ever have a parenting epiphany? A moment when something just makes you think, “Whoa, wait a minute. I’ve been doing this all wrong! I need to change direction.” That happened to me a few years ago when my daughter Grace was five. I caught her trying to steal a candy bar at the checkout counter of a local store. When I told her to put it back, she looked at me as if to say, “There’s nothing to see here. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Even as her 10 year-old brother chided, “You’re gonna get in trouble,” Grace just pretended nothing had happened. Of course I insisted she put it back, and I remember putting her into her booster seat in the car afterwards, and asking, “Why did you do that? What have daddy and I taught you about stealing and lying?” She was crying at that point. And then it hit me. What had my husband and I taught her about stealing and lying? Clearly, not enough.