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www.CSEcenter.org

We

 

encourage

 truthfulness in our 

children by providing an emotionally 

safe environment for them to be able 

to tell the truth and make mistakes. 

Providing an emotionally safe envi-

ronment requires our thoughtful 

reflection. In her book, Living the 

Eternal Way, Ellen Grace O’Brian 

points out that it takes courage to live 

truthfully. Creating an emotionally safe 

environment for our children means 

that we provide a safe place for them to 

express their feelings.  In other words, 

they are not made to feel undue guilt 

for making mistakes or ashamed for 

expressing themselves. Our children 

need to be able to trust that it is safe 

to tell the truth. We can ask ourselves, 

“Am I talking to my child in a way that 

would invite them to be truthful?” 

It takes planning and practice to live 

as a family with spiritual principles at 

the center. Having a clearly identified 

plan for 

practicing

 truthfulness with 

our children is important. Planning for 

family activities and discussions builds 

the foundation for sharing our spiri-

tual values, such as truthfulness. One 

of the primary practices for supporting 

truthfulness is meditation.  This 

relaxed time in silence allows thoughts 

and emotions to settle so that we can 

see what is true more clearly.  

By incorporating the spiritual values 

of truthfulness and harmlessness into 

our family life, we can practice loving 

and compassionate ways to talk to 

our children at all times, simultane-

ously 

modeling, encouraging, 

and practicing

 truthfulness, thus 

supporting them in feeling emotion-

ally safe enough to tell the truth, even 

when it is difficult to do so. We can 

support truthfulness in our family by 

apologizing and making amends when 

we make mistakes. A simple, “I’m 

sorry” goes a long way in showing our 

children that we all make mistakes. 

Our children are more likely to be 

truthful when they feel safe enough to 

tell the truth and know that everyone, 

including their parents, makes 

mistakes.

As parents, we can find great 

support in talking with each other  

in spiritual community and sharing 

the experiences of teaching truthful-

ness to our children, as well as dealing 

with the inevitable mistakes that both 

we, and our children, make along the 

way.  

Christine Sodt, MS, M.Div. coaches parents of 

emotionally challenged youth and teaches child 

development at Mission College in Santa Clara. 

In addition, she has directed and taught in a 

preschool for eighteen years.