Teaching Children that Choices Have Consequences
By Natalie J. Hale

It’s as simple as cause and effect. If I do something, a result follows. If I lie, there will be guilt; if I eat too many cookies, I gain weight; if I read my scriptures and say my prayers, I feel good. And I’m sure that if we were sitting together we could come up with nearly unlimited examples of choice and consequence combinations.

As adults we understand that when we make right choices, the consequences — though sometimes on a timetable other than our own — will be good. But how does a mother instill that knowledge into her precious children, giving them a foundation on which to grow and become the kind of boys and girls Heavenly Father wants them to be?

The world is not the same today as it was when we were children. President Hinckley has warned that, “We live in a season of wickedness, pornography, immorality. All of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah haunt our society. Our young people have never faced a greater challenge. We have never seen more clearly the lecherous face of evil.” (President Gordon B. Hinckley, “Living in the Fullness of Times,” Ensign, Nov. 2001, 4)

If there ever was a generation that needed the Armor of God, it’s this one. It is war, and the little ones need to learn the rules of combat in order to survive.

Survival Begins at Home

Through his mouthpieces, the Lord has stated that the first line of defense again evil is in the home. It is within those sacred walls, no matter if the home is a multi-million dollar mansion or a thatched-roof shack, that husbands and wives have been appointed by God to raise the next generation, and — as President Boyd K. Packer has so eloquently said it — parents “fit each child individually with a shield of faith made to buckle on so firmly that it can neither be pulled off nor penetrated by those fiery darts.”

He goes on to say that,

I would think all of us would want our children speak of us the way the Army of Helaman spoke of their own mothers:

Those words — the battle-cry of 2,000 faithful, virtuous boys — were called then and they can be called again.

We are the mothers chosen to raise the next army of not just 2,000 but countless boys and girls. It is the calling of parents today to teach their own children, and it has been the same calling for parents from the foundation of the world (see Moses 5:12).

Note that this teaching and training doesn’t happen overnight or at one super-activity when children are teenagers. This training begins when children are very young:

Vital Lesson that Choices Have Consequences

One very important lesson children need to learn is the essence of moral agency — their God-given right to choose. It is a popular notion today that we have a right to choose. This is true, but we must also understand that when we make choices, consequences follow. And depending on our choices, those consequences can be either good or bad.

There are three basic things children need to learn about God standards of choices and consequences:

What are some ways to teach these three principles to children?
I have created three preschool activities addressing each of the three basics listed above. I’ll share one now, and the other two are available at www.enlightenedhomemaker.com (all activities are free; you’ll just need to register a username and password).

Activity: Choices Have Consequences

Materials: cookie sheet, paper towels, several paint colors, old glass marbles.

Directions: Lay paper towels inside cookie sheet. Have child dip the marble in the paint. Next, have the child roll the marble across the towels, watching the colored trail it leaves behind. Use different marbles for different paint colors. The towel represents us. When we make bad choices, like rolling the paint-covered marble, it leaves bad consequences. Our towel is now stained and needs what Heavenly Father calls repentance.

This and other activities for preschoolers on my website can be used and modified for your home use. We have also included the option of adding your own activities to the website. To learn more and participate in this growing effort, please visit www.enlightenedhomemaker.com or www.smarthomemaker.com.

The Lamanite mothers have paved the way; our great and noble work is vital to the Lord’s plan of salvation. We can do this. Ours is the mission of beautiful mother Eve. The Lord has called mothers to do this sacred work and He will see us through. We can train our children in the ways of Lord and arm them with power they need to succeed in battle of life.