I read an article by Jim Rohn the other day. It bore out what we - my husband and I have always believed in and tried to do through the years as educators. We realized very early on - and Jim Rohn bears this out - 'Kids are great moral philosophers, especially as they get into adolescence'. They question and want to expose any kind of hypocrisy, phoniness or lack of integrity they see in those in authority. As parents we deal with this at home with our kids. As teachers and educators we come across this in our kids, especially the older ones. Children are very unforgiving and if you don't have a plausible explanation ready for them and if you cannot convince them, then you are lost. What's worse, they are lost -it starts with a feeling of being let down and then, they just get into the 'I don't believe you' frame of mind and there is nothing you can do about it.Children are all the time testing us. Scary thought, but true, nevertheless.....
Integrity cannot be taught. It has to be a way of life with us adults if we want the children - our own as well as those we influence - to imbibe this very important value. Teaching children integrity is our responsibility. Integrity is what is going to get the children through this very difficult world of ours. They have to learn from us the absolute importance of telling the truth,no matter what the consequences. We have to teach them to mean what they say, and say what they mean. Bad enough that there will be many instances in their grown-up life that they will find that being dishonest and unethical will bring gains. What we teach them when we teach them integrity is that these are short term gains and they will never bring either happiness or peace of mind. In fact they will corrode their self-respect slowly but surely, and no material gain will ever be able to compensate this. They will learn from us to be proud of what they do, and who they are. They will learn never to compromise on anything that would reduce their self respect or sense of self worth.