by Jane Alois

Created on: October 18, 2006   Last Updated: May 15, 2007

Where do we learn ethics? Is it at school? When we are playing sports? Watching television?

Who teaches ethics? Day Care providers? The government? Our peers?

The answer, of course, is all of these. Learning what is right and wrong, good and bad, moral obligation, duty, and values are absorbed from the people who surround us as we grow and mature.

The big question is, whom do you want teaching your child ethics? Do you want your child to have the same ethics as you have? If you do, then you are the one who must teach your child ethics. You do this by example. Do you want to teach your child to be responsible? Do not call in sick at work because you just do not feel like going. Do you want to teach your child that people are more important than things? Instead of buying a new set of golf clubs when you golf only twice a year, invite grandma and grandpa out for dinner and a movie, and then take your spouse to the Cape for a romantic weekend. Do you want your child to speak respectfully to others? Be careful of how YOU speak to others. If you are constantly swearing at family members and saying how you would like to kill your boss, even though you may not really mean it, what are you teaching your child? Do you want your child to play by the rules and respect authority? If you do not back up the school faculty when your child misbehaves in school or does not complete assignments, what are you teaching your child?

Perhaps this teaching of ethics looks a little daunting. Where can you go for help? Ah, yes, school! But wait, don't the teachers have enough to do teaching your child to read, write effectively, learn good math skills, history, science, a foreign language, art, physical education, health, and music. There just are not enough hours in the school day for a class in ethics as well. Maybe watching television would work. Just put your child in front of soap operas for an hour or two a day and see what that produces. Talk about dysfunctional! It is unfortunate that much of what we hear on radio, read in the newspapers, and see on television is the sensationalism of the not so desirable aspects of human behavior. It is very difficult to point to any public figure and say, "There is a person to emulate!"

So ask yourself a question. Where are right and wrong taught? Where is moral obligation preached? There was a clue in that last question. Did you catch it? Yes! Church, Temple, Synagogue, Mosque, House of Worship. That place forgotten by so much of our population

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