God exhorts children to honor father and mother: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with a promise, so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth” (Ephesians 6:1-3). Dr. Scott Turansky, co-founder of the National Center for Biblical Parenting, provides the following tip you can use to teach children honor.
Teaching kids to honor others
We love to teach about honor. One of the parts of our honor definition is that we do more than what’s expected. That means seeing what needs to be done and doing it. It means solving problems instead leaving them for others. One family had a sign in their kitchen that read:
If it’s broken, fix it.
If it’s empty, fill it up.
If it’s open, shut it.
If it’s out, put it away.
If it’s messy, clean it up.
If you can’t, then report it.
That’s honor.
Take time to teach kids that they don’t have to wait for an instruction in order to do a job. Honor means that we’re looking for what needs to be done and take initiative. In fact, you may instruct a child to go around the classroom or house and look for one job that needs to be done and do it, then report back to you.
These kinds of discussions and activities will help children think beyond themselves and discover that they have a responsibility to the family. They can contribute to family life by just seeing something that needs to be done and doing it on their own.
Of course, that’s what makes a successful student, and a valuable employee too so you can teach your children something more important than just how to get along better in your class or family. You are preparing them to be outstanding students, employees, friends, teammates, and even spouses as they get older.
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