Motivate Your Child by Scott Turansky

Author:Scott Turansky
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2014-12-01T00:00:00+00:00

10

Putting the Conscience to Work Outside the Home

The conscience prompts action, but kids need coaching to help them know how to react to challenging situations.

Children face conscience issues every day. Nancy’s friends won’t allow Amy to eat at their lunch table. Nancy experiences an internal struggle. She wants to include Amy, but she doesn’t want to oppose her friends, lest she, too, be barred from the group.

Charlie kicks the ball, and it goes over the fence at school. He can see the ball and almost reach it, but it seems that the only way to get it is to jump over the fence. No one has ever told him not to go over the fence, but something about it just doesn’t seem right. His conscience plays a role as he considers his options.

Romy feels uncomfortable because the rule is to get home by dark, but he and his friend just finished building the skateboard ramp and haven’t cleaned up yet. What he chooses to do in this situation is important, and the conscience will play a role in his decision making.

Preparing Kids to Live Responsibly When They Aren’t with You

When children are with parents, Dad and Mom often guide their kids to make the best choices, but when those children are outside the home, they must rely on the training they’ve received to face the challenges of life. “Do I take another brownie or leave it for someone else?” “Should I clean up as I go or clean up at the end?” “Do I try to influence the situation toward what seems to be the right choice or try to fit in for now and see if it works out?” These choices aren’t easy ones and require that children not only have rules to guide their thinking but also have the ability to think through the options and weigh out various factors.

Kids often meet challenges that pit various parts of the conscience against one another. Violating a rule to help someone else is a challenge for anyone. In business, it’s either called a breach of conduct if the rule has moral implications, or good customer service when that rule seems not to apply in a situation. Children often need help to understand the difference.

Kids often meet challenges that pit various parts of the conscience against one another.

You’ll want to do some conscience training to empower children to approach life’s challenges outside the home. That means providing them with clear values, convictions, and family rules, and then giving them a chance to test them out in real situations. They’ll learn to think independently, and have opportunities to fail and to receive honest but compassionate feedback. As they learn from victories and mistakes, kids develop a confidence for handling all kinds of situations in life.

You might start by talking to your kids at home about potential situations and helping them evaluate the options. For example, you may ask your six-year-old, “If you’re over at a friend’s house and your friend does this, what should you do?” Then present several different scenarios.

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