How to Teach Morality Using Picture Books

Create a home library of picture books that features texts that focus on themes dealing with morality. Richard Lee, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, puts moral teachings into general groupings, including general principles defining morality and right or wrong; moral facts such as "using drugs hurts your body"; and specific moral principles, such as Hitler was a bad man. Specific judgments of actions also fit into another general classification, and this moral group focuses on traditions or family values of appropriate and inappropriate behavior.

Select a basic moral lesson, such as anger, respect, responsibility or honesty, and pick three books from your library that focus on the same theme.

Use three books during the week, and rotate the texts for story times during the day.

Read the text from the picture books and focus on specific images that demonstrate the moral lesson or example of the character doing an important action. Ask your children questions about the actions shown in the pictures to reinforce the book's moral message.

Select another set of books for reading the next week, but keep one of the books from the first group in the reading rotation. Kids enjoy rereading books, and this random review helps reinforce lessons learned during the previous week. Continue this rotation with new topics each week. When the review library becomes too large, narrow the books to include only your child's favorites.

Talk about the morals in the theme books when out in public or interacting with family members. Point out real-life actions and events that support the lessons. When family members show kindness, call attention to this by linking the act with the actions from books. Ask your child "Remember when Randy from our story this afternoon helped his grandmother do the dishes? Your cousin is doing the same thing right now for Aunt Mildred!"