Teaching Morality to Your Children

Teaching morality to your children, how do you go about such a task? You can probably look around and see all the immorality in our culture and realize that it is an important assignment. Your children are too precious to let them be fooled by the craziness in our culture, but how are our children to know who is teaching them truth? I have a few points to share with you that will help not only in teaching morality to your children, but will help with your children believing in what you say as truth.

*Show grace. In addition to teaching the tough stuff, I teach grace. Jaden told me to be Goliath, as he was acting out the part of David. Knowing that I was the bad guy, he told me that Jesus died to save us. What a great message! We can teach grace through the teachings of the Word of God. The Word of God teaches us how to cope with all the messiness in this world.

*Model good behavior. Don't reprimand your kids for yelling by yelling at them. Show patience and understanding. In the words of Jaden, "don't be a little bit rough, then I'll be a little bit rough too."

*Tell the whole truth. My 3-year-old tells me that bad guys who don't listen to Jesus will go to Hell. Yikes! ...Okay, hear me out on this one. When we sugar coat the truth, the truth is not in them. Kids have to know that there is definitely a right and wrong. There are serious consequences for those who choose the wrong way, but there are bountiful blessings for those who choose the right way to live. When we sugar coat the truth, kids begin to believe that they do not really have to be good kids. They just have to pretend to be good for the sake of rewards. My son use to want to be the bad guy (just for fun), now he only wants to be the good guy. There is much excitement and adventure as he acts the part of a "good guy super hero." He realizes there is no in-between. You still may think I am crazy, but I see that it is of great benefit to teach reality, rather than a fairy tale.

*Value your children. Don't just care about your children, cherish them. When they see that they are valuable in your eyes, they will want to behave. They will see that it is rewarding to enjoy time together as a family. Build them up, and they will make your life better. When they feel valued, they will act valuable.

Just recently, I was listening to Chuck Swindoll, a passionate pastor in ministry. He was teaching on child rearing. He was saying that what keeps kids on the right track is not taking them to church every Sunday and every church activity they could possibly go to. What keeps kids on the right track is getting to know them - learning their strengths and weaknesses, encouraging them in what they love to do, listening to them. Swindoll even went as far to say that when this is not done, kids will hit the road running, once they become an adult, and possibly never return. Swindoll pointed to Proverbs 22:6 in the Message Bible, which reads, "point your kids in the right direction - when they are old, they won't be lost."