​RAISING CHILDREN WITH INTEGRITY: Let’s get practical #starlingschool

Practical ways to teach your Children Integrity.
1. What YOU say.

When you speak, your children need to be able to trust that you will be true to your word.  With a mind-set of integrity established, you will find that you’ll be much more likely to speak the truth and follow through with what you have said.  This echoes the reality that we need to be careful to let our “yes” be yes and our “no” be no.

2. How YOU say it.

Do you find yourself speaking to your children in a sarcastic or condescending tone of voice?  Replace this attitude with a patient demeanor.  Once you have developed a mind and heart of integrity, positive actions and words will naturally flow. So hold on to your integrity by honoring your family in the way you talk to them on a daily basis, your children are watching and learning.

3. What YOU do. 

Perhaps the most obvious, yet most important, way to teach your children integrity is to lead by example. Children learn best from what you do, not from what you say they should do. Do you ever tell your children to stop texting at the dinner table, only to check emails in the middle of a conversation they are having with you?  Start being a model for your children and live a life of integrity that they can follow.

4. How YOU do it.

Look for issues/examples that revolve around integrity and talk about them as they come up in everyday activities: TV shows, news events, situations at home, school, and with friends. Let them learn from real life situations and mistakes as these are some of the best lessons. Teach your children to do everything with excellence from the start, even when no one is watching. Why? Simply because it’s the right thing to do!

5. Have a Resource.

Let them know a source or material they can always refer to that helps to remind them on how to behave in different situations. Children learn best from repetition. You can start with Bible passages, the Ten Commandments, find books that teach morality and other religious values.