In my experience, either children understand what "it's the right thing to do" means and so will do what's right, or parents say "You have to do what I say!", or parents lie to their children / tell them religious stories.

wedrifid14y20

In my experience, either children understand what "it's the right thing to do" means and so will do what's right, or parents say "You have to do what I say!", or parents lie to their children / tell them religious stories.

Usually all three.

0gRR14y

Well, it appears the particular child does understand what it means, in the sense of the morality computation being internalized, so actions can reliably be classified as "right" or "wrong". But unfortunately, "so will do what's right" does not follow. Obviously, I don't want to simply demand obedience or lie. Emotional pressure works - me being disappointed, etc - but it doesn't feel right to me, and so I'm not good at it.

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