The Trust Bank

Trust issues tend to become part of your adventures of motherhood at a fairly early stage in the game.  From the four year old whose face is covered with blueberries who looks at you with big blue eyes and solemnly states he didn't eat them, to the teenager who has mastered the art of deception, this can be a tricky area to deal with.  You want to be able to trust your children to tell the truth but to trust them, they need to have earned that trust.  For kids to understand this, you can tell them about the Trust Bank.

Just as we deposit and withdraw money in a regular bank, the family Trust Bank is where we deposit and withdraw trust.  Trust is deposited when we tell the truth and are honest.  Trust is withdrawn when we lie or are deceitful.  The whole goal is to have a large amount of trust built up in your Trust Bank account.  You don't want withdrawals or worse, to be overdrawn.  Usually trust is added slowly and regularly while withdrawals can deplete your account quite quickly.  When you have accumulated a large amount of trust, your life is pretty comfortable and your freedom expands.  (That's a perk!)  But a depleted trust account means less freedom and more distrust and it's hard to build it back up.

It's usually easy for kids to understand this concept and helps them see the real value of honesty.  Those little white lies do have an impact and so does telling the truth.