Teaching honesty to kids when the world rewards lying

Aug 10·1 min read

Caught my 12 year old telling his teacher he forgot his homework at home when he really just didn't do it. We had a long talk about how being a man of God means telling the truth even when it's harder, even when there are consequences. Made him go apologize to the teacher and do the assignment that night. My dad never really taught me about integrity and I'm determined to break that cycle. Anyone else dealing with this age where they start testing boundaries?

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Comments(5)

JJoshuaExperiencedAug 11

Caught mine doing the exact same thing last month. We had a long talk about how one lie makes teachers not trust him even when he IS telling the truth. He gets it now. But man, that conversation was harder than I expected.

SSteveRegularAug 12

How'd you handle it? I'm always wondering if I come down too hard on these moments or not hard enough. At 12 he's old enough to know better but also still figuring out the world.

VVincentRegularAug 11

This is the hard part of parenting nobody talks about. You're teaching honesty when Netflix rewards binge-watching instead of homework, YouTube pranks celebrate deception, and sometimes lying DOES pay off in the short term. Just keep hammering the value. It sticks eventually.

NNate H.RegularAug 10

Man, that's tough but you're handling it right by having that conversation. At 12 they're figuring out who they want to be, and knowing you care enough to address it matters more than the mistake itself.

RRyanNew DadAug 10

We've been there with our kids too. I always tell mine that shortcuts feel good for about five minutes, then the guilt sticks around way longer. Sounds like your son got the message.