Ethics are a frequent topic of discussion at our house. I often encourage the girls to try to make good decisions not because they are afraid of getting in trouble if they don’t, but because it’s the right thing to do. And as a parent, I try to set a good example by doing things like going back into the grocery store when I discover an item I didn’t pay for in my cart. Apparently, my efforts are paying off, because I recently had a major lapse in judgment, and Puppy was more than happy to point out the error of my ways.
We were at an outlet mall after a long day. The outlet mall was divided into two halves by a road. We needed to get from one side to the other, and since we were all tired and hungry, we decided to drive rather than walk our tired crew across. Crawling in the car, I told Kitten she only had to buckle the top of her five point harness. As he started the car, my husband pointed out the police car behind us.
“I guess we’d better buckle all the way,” I sighed.
There was a long silence in the car, then Puppy piped up.
“Let me get this straight,” she said. “You don’t care at all about our safety, only about getting a ticket?”
I was busted. And truthfully, quite embarrassed that I’d set such a poor example for my kids. In the future, I’ll take extra care to make sure I do the right thing. Not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because I’ll know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’m being watched.
