by Ronnie Dauber

Created on: January 27, 2009   Last Updated: October 22, 2010

Trust between a parent and a child is something earned and forgiveness is a gift that's freely given. A free gift  that can be readily received is the first step towards earning trust, and so their importance is shared equally because they work together to build character.

Trusting another person is being secure with their character and knowing that what you have learned about them about their words and their actions is true. It's a confidence earned that doesn't even open the door to the suggestion of doubt.

Children learn from the onset of life through faith and dependency on their parents, whether or not they can depend on them to mean what they say and say what they mean. They develop a trust for their parents because of what they learn.

Children learn very quickly how much they can depend on their parents in every phase of life. They learn their attitudes, their judgements, their reliability to provide for the family and even their habits like having suppers on the table each night.

Through consistent actions, children learn to rely on their parents without hesitation because they have proved themselves to their children. And the children have learned to trust their parents for all these issues through the responsible care and love the parents provide for them.

Forgiveness is a grace extended to someone who literally says they're sorry and asks for forgiveness. The act of forgiving is simply wiping the slate clean of any wrongful actions and restoring faith back into someone.

When a child is disciplined for doing something wrong, that child needs to have enough confidence in the parents and their actions to know that if they ask for forgiveness, the parents will forgive them. They need to know that the love and trust between them will not change because of what they did.

And that means that the parent won't bring the wrongful doing up in the future to them, or discuss it publicly with others to their embarrassment and humiliation. It means that it's forgotten.

When children can know in their hearts what the parent's characteristic nature is and how they act and react to certain events, they will develop an understanding and know in advance what the outcomes of some of their own actions will be. And this is because of the trust and faith they have in their parents.

When children trust their parents, they believe in the love and security that is given to them, and they depend on it. And they also depend on being forgiven when they are bad so that their relationship with their parents can be quickly restored. This type of trust between parents and children is crucial in developing strong positive characteristics in children.

Children who trust their parents are usually happier, more peaceful and easier to get along with because they not only have confidence in their parents, but also in themselves.

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