Teaching Children Integrity

Character is everything and I want my children to understand the cores of our positive character traits. As parents, we are responsible for raising our future to be better than it is today. There are so many character traits that we should all have. Learning them as a child and seeing them in real life in the things they do and we do…that is the best learning! Real-life!
So, I started with INTEGRITY.

Definition of Integrity: noun
Oxford Dictionary defines integrity as: The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.
“he is known to be a man of integrity”

The Random House Dictionary defines integrity as: Adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty. The state of being whole, entire or undiminished.

Concept for Kids: Do the right thing, even when nobody is looking.

Examples:
-It is not ok to steal something just because you think nobody is looking. Have integrity and do the right thing.
-Someone gives you too much change, do you tell them? Well, with integrity you would tell them. It is about being honest even if you can walk away with a little extra cash.

We Must have Integrity in every decision we make!

God Is ALWAYS watching!

Some Bible Verses related to integrity:
Proverbs 10:9
Proverbs 28:6
Proverbs 11:3
Proverbs 19:1
1 Peter 3:16
Psalms 25:21

Try telling the kids a story in relation to Integrity. Example: They goto a friend’s house to watch a movie. The movie is rated bad and you know your parents don’t let you watch those movies. But, you fail to have the integrity to not watch, and watching it becomes a bad move. You have nightmares that night and you don’t sleep well. Then you wake up in the morning grumpy and irritable. You find yourself thinking about things from the movie and questioning things. Knowing that you weren’t supposed to watch it but you did, you feel ashamed to ask your parents for help with the questions you have about the movie. So, you keep it all inside.

Another example would be if we don’t allow our children to have soda and candy but they go to a party and lack the integrity to still uphold that they know they are not supposed to…and they eat that candy and drink that soda. Then later they have a tummy ache and they become grouchy…maybe their party memories are no longer positive because they just remember feeling sick. If they had the integrity to remember and follow their parent’s rules, even when they aren’t there, they wouldn’t have felt sick and they would have much more fun.

I hope this inspires you to teach your children integrity. Remember, they learn what they see, so you are their best example. This means in teaching them you are also trying to have more integrity for them to see and therefore you are bettering yourself as well.