Raising Children with Truth and Honesty. What's ur Take?

That's a great idea. Although I've had some trouble with telling the truth to kids a while back. The kid asked my how they were made and I had to lie to him about the whole thing. He was asking about the details and I just couldn't help but lie about it.

I think the honesty approach is the best approach. It also helps them learn the true meaning of all the holidays and gives them more knowledge for the future. Knowledge is always an important endeavor in everyone's life.

I just responded to another discussion you started and I entioned being an Atheist. I want my child raised to be honest, kind, and compassionate to all kinds of people from all walks of life. I want to gve him the option of donating to charity periodically. I want so much for him. There are so many negative things in the world, I want my child be feel positive and that he can do good things. I want to recommend a book to you. It's called Raising a Freethinker. It's a book for Atheist parents, but it goes along the same ideas you have about honesty and trust. It's a very inspiring book.

Hat's off to you, mate, I agree with you 1,000,000 %!!! Lying is lying, period, it eats away the trust in your children, plain and simple. I myself talk about the history behind the legend, like St Nicholas in the 6th century. When they get older I'll be talking about the cultures of how people celebrate holidays around the world. Even atheists are starting to not tell their kids about Santa Claus, and have stopped celebrating the holiday period.

Hi neededhope, I totally agree that you should not lie with your children & should nourish them with truth & honesty.As if lie with you children then the time will come they will lie with you which will not be accepted by you. But my suggestion to you is not to be honest with you children just for EATER & CHRISTMAS as these are very small things & does not effect because ultimately the child will come to know it automatically though you need to be honest with them in your day to day activities which will be more helpful.You will face instances when you will think deeply what should i do should i lie or say truth in those cases you need to make your heart strong & should say the truth because one lie will make you to speak 100 lies.So i always suggest you to be honest & appreciate you to have taken such decision.

I respect your decision to not tell your kids about the Easter bunny or Santa Claus, it's a fine idea. However, I think I will still tell my children that they exist. I was told that they did, and I came out just fine. It's cute for a little while, and those traditions were started to encourage children to behave. They're just cute. I don't think there is anything wrong with children living in fantasy, let them delay knowing about the everything there is. On another note, I won't be celebrating the religious aspects of those holidays, if we end up celebrating them at all. But I want to celebrate something, of course. I hope as time changes, there's more traditions that come along.

It'll be great if everybody can do like you say. But the truth is, it is very difficult. It is so much easier to do as everybody does. Please don't take this the wrong way, because I am not discouraging you. In fact, I'm applauding you. I hope that you and your husband would be successful. And that your children grow up to be successful human beings.

I agree with you Neededhope. I think children should be taught the truth of what the holidays mean to the family and to society in general. For some, Christmas may not be as important as a religious holiday as it is a secular one, and they might even go into the pagan side of it. Whatever their beliefs, I feel the children should know what those beliefs are. For me, Easter has never been about the Easter Bunny. It was always about the resurrection of Christ, Jesus. And Christmas was never about the Christmas tree or the ornaments or giving gifts, but it was about the gift of Jesus Christ coming to earth as a human child. I think of Christmas as the day that God was given a mother. Every other person on earth has had a mother, but God has no beginning and no end, so I feel that Jesus is the gift that God gave to us, and at the same time, God got to experience what it is to be human and to have a mother. Some may not agree with what I just said, but it means a lot to me. I wasn't taught all this as a kid... I learned it as an adult, and I taught my daughter to value Easter and Christmas as days in which to honor God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. I think parents should raise their children according to how they believe is right. They might not be Christian, so I wouldn't say teach them Christian ideals unless that is truly how they believe. For me it was a big let down to find out that there was no Santa Claus. I was equally shattered when I discovered there was no tooth fairy... I discovered my mom was the one leaving quarters for my teeth that I put under my pillow. Fantasies are great, but I think kids should know the difference between fantasy and truth.