Kids & Parenting

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Truth is something that should be modeled by parents. For children to learn to speak the truth, then they must first hear it spoken in their very own homes by their very own parents. We are told that charity begins at home, and also although most fathers do not like to hear his, "like father like son!"

The phone rang in the home of a young couple and their four year old son who loved to answer phones ran to answer it. His father who was watching television stood up and raced him to the phone. It was something that he did in jest, just to amuse his son. He would always let his son win. Just then he remembered that there was some information that he needed to give his boss. He had told his boss to call him at home and he would give it to him. He realized that he had not yet gotten the information for his boss. he knew that telling his boss that he had not yet gotten the information would make him look bad. He grabbed his son just before the youngster started to speak on the phone. "Ask who it is and if it is Mr Charleston, tell him that I am not in!" He held his breathe as his son answered the phone. "Hello who is it?" the boy asked in a sweet melodious voice. "My daddy is not in," he answered to whatever question the person on the phone had asked him. His father relaxed and went to sit down to continue watching television. Then the boy said, "Hold on let me ask him!" He shouted loudly to his dad, "He wants to know what time you are coming back!"

Where as the Bible does not categorize lies, many people think that lies are relative. So we have divided them into "white lies" and the real lies. What constitutes a lie? Anything that is not the truth is a lie. Apparently, there are no "white lies" Either you are speaking the truth or not speaking the truth. Why do people lie? In my humble opinion, I believe that people lie from insecurity. "If I tell you the truth, you are going to reject me." We lie because we want to be accepted, and do not want the other person's estimation of us to go down. There is a certain image of ourselves that we want to maintain and we are willing to lie to preserve it.

The more secure we are, the less lies we will tell, because the fewer people we will try to impress. Going back to the telephone conversation that we just read about, what is it that made the father tell his son to lie? He wanted to maintain a certain image with his boss. He was not about to risk, his boss thinking that he was a bad employee.

The saddest part of the story is the lesson that the father has just been taught to his son, that it is alright to tell a lie. Parents should not be surprised, therefore, if our children lie to us. Parents are on parade. They are teaching a lesson with every move they make.

The Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Colossians, "Do not lie to each other, since you have put off the old nature with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator" (Col. 3:10-11)

Nellie Shani lives in California with her husband and three children. She has been writing articles for the last fifteen years. Her first book, "Stand Your Ground," is now available on amazon.com and on her author's website: http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/StandYourGround.html

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