Family Sculptures

We had some spare time a few days ago, and so we sat down for some family play dough fun. We sculpted insects, family members and food. Livvy was taking a nap, so we were able to have some quality family discussions. I am reading -STILL, or AGAIN, depending on how you look at it- "Teaching your Children Values". I really want my children to learn to be honest and feel pride in their honesty. We talked about Honesty and Integrity, how having integrity means that you are honest to yourself and others, even when no one would know if you weren't. We discussed how 2 times this year Gloria's teacher sent home her spelling test marked %100 and when I looked over them, I noticed that a word was misspelled. Gloria was sad to take it back to school to tell her teacher- she is the top speller in her class and is in the most advanced spelling test/reading group in her grade. She is used to getting %100 without even studying. So, she was a little embarrassed to take the test to school. We had a discussion about honesty and she agreed it was the right thing to do. A few months later, that same thing happened. This time when I pointed the mistake out to Gloria, she immediately said that she would take it to school the next day to let her teacher know. We talked about how this would help her credibility if ever a problem should arise and the teacher didn't know who was telling the truth about something. She would know that Gloria was always honest. We talked about how Grayson told a friend that he could not have a quarter that he was trying to give to him at school. There is a rule at school that no money can change place between kids. Grayson wanted the quarter to buy a treat, but he told his friend "no. we are not supposed to". We talked about how it is important for friends to know that you will be honest with them. We also talked about how mommy and daddy NEVER lie to them and asked them if they ever thought we had. It was GREAT that the kids told us that they know that we would never lie to them... and we won't. We never promise things that we can't or won't do. We never tell them that they will get a certain punishment and then not follow through. It is a lesson that my mom taught me.... if you never ever lie to your kids, they will always believe you!!! And they do. I never tell them that they won't ever be able to go to the park with us again if they don't get in the car NOW... because I am not willing to never go to the park (zoo, friends, store, etc) again.

Anyway- it was a GREAT conversation. We will continue to focus on honesty and integrity. I want them to know how important this value is.

We had a great discussion. I look forward to more of these kinds of opportunities.