Honesty...The best policy

As a parent, it is our duty to teach our children the morals and values that not only are acceptable in our society, but as a Christian, it is also imperative that I teach my kids about the way of life that Jesus Christ desires us to live as best we can. We make mistakes, certainly, but we all have the ability to learn from our errors and be better people in the long run for it.

So, with these types of ideologies at stake, it pains me to see that our oldest son has developed quite the penchant for lying. And it's not even over big things--it is scary to think that it is a reaction, and even scarier that he doesn't seem to have much of a guilty conscience about it. I understand that at 10 years old that it's hard to really be remorseful when the fact is that at this age children are still very egocentric, but there is more to it, in my opinion. He has such a logical mind, such a big brain, that I truly believe that one of the reasons that it happens is that he loves to be right, loves to be given attention for his intellect, that when he is either proven wrong or has the potential to be in trouble, he immediately overreacts and lies.

The question is--how does one stop it? I know that the only people we can control is ourselves, and he has been given what I consider to be discipline that is appropriate and should be a "lesson" teacher in terms of at least being something that he should avoid doing to get a worse disciplinary action, but I want him to understand that he needs to be honest just because it is the right thing to do. I need to be a better example of a Christian father, in my opinion, and while I am again the non-custodial parent, I need to really push up the "volume" on positively reinforcing his good behaviors and talk to him more and more--without barking at him or making him not do something out of fear--to have long-lasting effects. It's a hard pill to swallow, but does anyone else have ideas on what I should do here other that what I have said?

TAGS: Being A Christian, Being A Dad, Being A Parent, Christian Parenting, Discipline Issues, Disciplining Children, Honesty, Kids, Lying, Morals, Parenthood, Values
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