Does your child have a hard time making the right choices? Do they choose to do the right thing? They are kids and making the right choices is something they are learning to do. I want to give them the knowledge to do the right thing.

I love to teach character traits! It is something that I feel every child should be taught every day. Character determines how my child acts and what kind of choices they make. They are children and so we all know there are some growing pains as they experience what life has to offer.

My goal is in those critical moments when they must make a choice, they will pause and think about what they have learned. I hope it will influence what kind of choice they make.

What does integrity mean?

To put it simply, integrity is who you are when no one is around you. It’s the decisions you make when there is no accountability from someone else, that determines your integrity. Will you choose to do the right thing because you believe that is the right thing to do?

How to teach your child about integrity?

Integrity is something we demonstrate every day whether we want to or not. It is who we really are every moment of every day. It is seen in every decision we make.

Model It

Like everything else in parenting, the best way to teach our children about these character traits is to model it in front of them every day. They see what we do and instinctively measure our actions against the words that we say. If we are not doing the things we say we should do, it hurts our credibility with our children because we look like hypocrites.

This is a very high standard! So are we supposed to be the perfect parent and never make mistakes? No! I talk in-depth about this in my post, What Does Being the Perfect Parent Say to Your Child?

We are people who make mistakes and what we do when we make these mistakes determines our level of integrity. Displaying perfection in front of our children does nothing to help them through life. We live in a sinful world and so we are going to do bad things. It’s our response when we do those bad things that matter to those around us.

Object Lesson

I will never forget the object lesson I did for my own kids to demonstrate what integrity means. Let’s face it, this is a hard one to teach!

I got some pretty gift bags and tissue from the dollar store. I filled the gift bags with trash and then I made them look beautiful with the tissue paper. I set them up at the kitchen table, one for every child to open.

There was immediate excitement when they came to the kitchen and noticed the beautiful gifts. They couldn’t wait to open them! I instructed them to leave the bags alone so they could open them all together and so they wouldn’t ruin the surprise.

Little did they know the surprise wasn’t a good one! On my go, they all tore into them and pulled out the tissue to reveal the trash I had put inside. To say they were disappointed is an understatement. They felt ripped off and I didn’t blame them.

After they had gotten over what the gift was, I asked them if the inside mattered. Of course, they adamantly agreed that it did. I informed them that what was on their inside mattered too. In fact, it is what powers our choices. This is one of the reasons that it is imperative we monitored what we think about and what we watch too. What goes in will come out, and that affects our integrity.

Vocabulary

I always start by defining the character word for them. There have been too many times when I have expected them to model a character trait they didn’t understand and so I like to start at the beginning.

Integrity means being honest and to have strong moral principles.

Activity: Integrity Escape Room

What is this activity going to teach my child?

I took the definition of integrity and created an escape room. There are three riddles to solve that demonstrated the meaning of integrity to our everyday living. Kids get so excited when they are called upon to solve something and it encourages them to engage in the material. They are working to solve it and in the meantime, it is being imprinted on their brains. The three foundational principles are:

• Integrity is who you are when no one is looking
• Your inside matters
• Do the next right thing

These were the points that I want them to remember when we were all done.

How is the activity structured?

I taught this concept at our local homeschool co-op and it was very exciting! This would be a great Sunday School, Youth Group, or Children’s Activity too. I love how they are structured because it gives the teachers a lot of time to engage with the children during the escape room.

Opening

During the opening of class, I talked about what integrity means. I had a gift bag of trash sitting on the table next to me. I asked for a volunteer to come up, open the gift and show what everyone what was on the inside. After some rummaging around, they discovered trash! How disappointing!

I asked the class if they would care if I showed up at their birthday party with this gift. Of course not! So, I guess the inside matters. Not only does the inside of a gift matter, but what is on your inside matters too because that’s what determines the choices you make.

Your inside thought influences what you do when no one else is around. Your inside thoughts influence whether you do the next right thing.

My opening including my classroom rules, introductions and object lesson took about 10 minutes.

Activity

I had set up for the activity ahead of time. I like to have opportunities for the children to move and explore while they are learning and this escape is not different. To get themselves out, each team member must complete the tasks to solve the riddle.

I divided them into even groups of 3-6 people and gave them a clipboard with the mission details. I assured them if they had any questions my co-leader and I was available to help. I wanted to see them showing integrity as they carried out their instructions.

The clue tasks include activities such as:

• Scavenger Hunt
• Guessing Games
• Relay Races

Once they had successfully completed the escape room and could tell me the three foundational principles, they got a prize. I’m going to tell you a little secret, those kids work really hard for a little prize!

Closing and Call to Action

At the end of every lesson, I like to wrap things up by giving them a call to action. A call to action is something that I want my students to be intentional about until the next time we meet. Basically it is homework and I want them to share with me how it went during our next class.

The call to action for the character trait integrity is to make good choices even when they are by themselves and no one is there to hold them accountable. I want them to stop and think before they act. Are they doing the right thing?

It was a bit of a joke, but I also told them they needed to watch Frozen II as a part of their homework. Some of them were offended that I would suggest such a thing! I don’t want to give it away but it talks about the next right thing. In fact, our daughter just got a doll for her birthday that sings the song about doing the next right thing.

The supplies needed to complete this escape room activity are:

Supply List

• One Integrity Escape Room Missions printed for every team
• Pencil or pen per team
• One Clipboard per team
• 14 empty boxes
• Marker
• Balloons (2 per team)
• 32 Plastic Cups
• 1 Dice
• Balls (variety of sizes)
• Basket

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This was a lot of fun and it offered an amazing opportunity for a great discussion with the children of all ages. I taught this to children as young as 4 years old and it resonated with them.