Teaching honesty can be fun! When doing so, make sure the lesson’s message is clear, fun, and applicable. Keep the “gray” areas to a minimum and make the lesson appropriate for the age of your child, so they will be able to benefit from the message or moral of the story. Use games, drawings, coloring pages, and stories with choice options as activities that teach honesty.
- Games. Use game boards that you already have such as Chutes and Ladders, Jenga, Monopoly, or others. Write scenarios on cards about honesty with 2-3 questions for your child to answer at the end. Questions such as, “Was the person honest?” or “What would you have done?” When your child answers one of the questions correctly, they get to move forward on the board or get to put a Jenga piece in place.
- Use Art. Coloring Pages or drawing activities are great for younger children. As they color or draw pictures of an honest person or event, you can discuss honesty and how to make honest choices.
- Stories. Read stories with the moral lessons that you want to teach. Books are great teaching tools. As you read the story, ask questions as you go along about the behaviors of the characters. Did the characters do the right thing? Why or why not? Were the characters honest? How do you think they felt when they were honest?
The Importance Of Teaching Children Honesty
Teaching children the importance of honesty is critical to the development of their moral compass and lifelong well-being. The sooner a child learns that honesty is the foundation on which all relationships are built, the stronger their relationships will grow. Children must learn that mutual trust and respect are built, and can be destroyed forever with a simple act of dishonesty. A child needs to understand that once trust is broken, it is extremely hard, if not impossible, to get it back. Honestly really is the best policy.
Speaking of activities that teach honesty to children, reading books with them is a great one. Check out Nuff’s latest adventure titled It Pays To Be Honest. Not only that, but you’ll sleep better too! Join him and watch as his character is tested to the extreme. Should Nuff do what he knows is right? Or should he do what his heart wants him to? As his friend, Emily would say, “It’s such a conundrum!” Join Nuff on this journey and in the end, find out if his parents have taught him the importance of honesty…?
