If you want to teach your children about trust in a relationship, you have to teach them about what it's like to be able to trust someone and what a trusting relationship looks like. You need to both provide a way for your kids to see a relationship that is built on trust and to let them know that they can trust you. This shows them acts that they can emulate as well as allows them to engage in a trusting relationship that future relationships can be built on.

Give Your Kids a Good Role Model

The relationships that you demonstrate to your kids should be ones that put trust on the forefront. If you are involved in any difficult relationships that reveal a lack of trust, end them. Though it may be difficult to get rid of a relationship, it is important to do so if that relationship is not a good model of trust for the kids to see.

Openly Talk about Trust

If trust is important to you, talk about it to your children regularly. When they are acting in a responsible manner, reward them with extra privileges that are extended to them because that trust has been forged. When kids do something to erode that trust, it should be made clear to them that trust has been damaged and that the same privileges extended during times of trust will not be extended.

Communicate and Be Honest to Instill Trust

The ultimate lesson of trust in a relationship is instilling trust in the mother-child relationship. Keep communication open between you and your kids and allow them to ask questions and get honest answers. Be honest with your kids whenever possible in order to build trust in your kids. As you and your kids continue to be honest with each other, trust will continue to grow. This is an important aspect of your relationship that will serve as a model for later relationships.

Encourage Friendships That Involve Trust

As a parent, you have a lot of input into your kids' friendships. To teach them about trust in a relationship, talk to your kids about the trust factor in their friendships. Encourage them to be trustworthy friends and to stop being friends with those who have proven themselves not to be trustworthy. By emphasizing trust and being an honest person, you will show your kids how important it is to be honest to friends and to expect honesty in return.

When discussing your relationships and the relationships that your kids have, keep up the discussions about honesty and trust. To continue the emphasis on these aspects of relationships, the conversations must continue indefinitely. It is never time to stop talking about honesty and trust. These are topics that you can continue to place in the forefront all the way through your kids' childhoods, through adolescence and into adu