by Kiley
Have you ever read an article about current parenting trends? As I’ve raised my three little ones and tried to figure the art of mothering out, I’ve dabbled in these how-to blurbs every now and again. And more often than not, the prevalent theme that I read was this: be positive. Instead of telling a child what not to do, you encourage them to be good (and even great). In my striving to put those techniques into play, I remember that when we brought our second new baby home, our then-two-year-old got quite a lot of encouragement to ‘be soft’ with the tiny newborn (I had to hold my tongue quite a bit as I really wanted to tell him to ‘not hit’ so many times!). Now, I’ve even learned that I, myself, thrive in positivity and shrivel up in depression with constant negativity.
Recently, I was studying about the topic of honesty. I was struggling with the content I was finding, because most everything focused on the don’ts of honesty: don’t lie, don’t steal, and don’t cheat. Even the scriptures dealt heavily with these warnings, as found especially in the Ten Commandments in the Exodus chapter 20: ‘Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.’