Our third topic is about ethics and how we inspire our children to lead ethical lives. One of our most important and challenging roles as parents is to help our children become good people; people who are honest, kind, respect others and are given respect. There are plenty of examples in all areas of life of people not living ethical lives. We have politicians and business leaders who are caught in scandal - lies, cheating, breaking laws. We have sports heroes who are caught on video beating their girlfriends, accused of rape, engaged in cruelty to animals. It can be challenging in an environment where the message seems to be to win at all costs to cultivate the values of honesty, respect, courtesy, kindness, compassion.
Key to developing a strong set of ethics is the ability to imagine what we will do when faced with a particular situation. It is our ability to imagine different possibilities and outcomes that helps us make decisions. A simple example might be what we want to eat. We can imagine different types of food we might want and from there decide what to eat. In a more complex example we can take Martin Luther King Jr.'s I have a Dream speech as an example of Dr. King using his imagination to paint a world in which people "are judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin." So how do we help our children cultivate an ethical imagination?
Role playing is a great way to get children and youth to explore different ethical dilemmas and how to respond. Even with young children we can use dolls or stuffed animals to role play with them difficult situations like how to tell the truth when it is hard, admitting when we did something wrong. I have participated with youth in role playing different situations, giving them a moral dilemma and asking them to respond.
Again I think that popular culture and current events provide many opportunities to engage our children in ethical discussions. Novels, television and the news are filled with stories. This is perfect opportunity to ask talk with your child about what they think, what they might do.
Our children learn most from watching us. If we want our children to be honest, then they need to see us being honest. If we want our children to be conscious about race, than we need to talk about race. We have to model what we want them to embrace. Also we will not be perfect so we also need to demonstrate admitting guilt, asking for forgiveness, and giving forgiveness including forgiving ourselves.
Questions for reflection: What values do you hope your child will learn and embrace? What has been the toughest ethical dilemma your child has faced? What about for you? What are the hardest parts for you about asking for and giving forgiveness?
Key to developing a strong set of ethics is the ability to imagine what we will do when faced with a particular situation. It is our ability to imagine different possibilities and outcomes that helps us make decisions. A simple example might be what we want to eat. We can imagine different types of food we might want and from there decide what to eat. In a more complex example we can take Martin Luther King Jr.'s I have a Dream speech as an example of Dr. King using his imagination to paint a world in which people "are judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin." So how do we help our children cultivate an ethical imagination?
Role playing is a great way to get children and youth to explore different ethical dilemmas and how to respond. Even with young children we can use dolls or stuffed animals to role play with them difficult situations like how to tell the truth when it is hard, admitting when we did something wrong. I have participated with youth in role playing different situations, giving them a moral dilemma and asking them to respond.
Again I think that popular culture and current events provide many opportunities to engage our children in ethical discussions. Novels, television and the news are filled with stories. This is perfect opportunity to ask talk with your child about what they think, what they might do.
Our children learn most from watching us. If we want our children to be honest, then they need to see us being honest. If we want our children to be conscious about race, than we need to talk about race. We have to model what we want them to embrace. Also we will not be perfect so we also need to demonstrate admitting guilt, asking for forgiveness, and giving forgiveness including forgiving ourselves.
Questions for reflection: What values do you hope your child will learn and embrace? What has been the toughest ethical dilemma your child has faced? What about for you? What are the hardest parts for you about asking for and giving forgiveness?