You tell them to be good. To be honest. To follow the law. To care about other people. That safety comes first. 

You say these things, but what do you show?

“It is constantly reiterated that education begins in the home,” the novelist Louis L’Amour once wrote, “but what is often forgotten is that morality begins in the home also. It also begins in the car seat, where many a budding criminal career is born when the child not only watches his parent repeatedly break traffic laws, but hears him lie about it when caught.” 

You can’t say that you care about other people and then break laws because it’s inconvenient for your schedule. You can’t tell them that honesty is important and then lie to get out a ticket. What’s worth more to you? That’s what you have to ask yourself in every situation, particularly the ones where your kids are watching. Getting what you want, or teaching the wrong lesson? Avoiding a fine, or undermining the values you are trying to teach?

A little fellow follows you. They are literally strapped in a car seat behind you. They are figuring out what kind of driver they are going to be, what kind of person they are going to be. Right now. Watching you as you go through the world. They learn from home. They learn in the car. They learn from dad. 

So do the right thing. Show that you mean what you say. 

“Thou Shall Teach By Example”—that’s the 1st commandment in the Ten Commandments for Being a Great Parent, the foundation of Daily Stoic’s The Stoic Parent. We’d love to have you take this challenge with us. Sign up here.

P.S. This was originally sent on November 2, 2020. Sign up today for the Daily Dad’s email and get our popular 11 page eBook, “20 Things Great Dads Do Everyday.”