You may have seen the illustration: A pastor stands in front of the congregation holding two dollar bills. One is real and the other fake. To the untrained eye, they look exactly the same. The story goes that the difference is in the feel, in familiarity with the whole essence of a real dollar bill. That’s how counterfeit bills are caught—through intimate knowledge of the real thing.

In “Christian Parents: You Don’t Have to Protect Your Children from Divergent Opinions,” author Rebecca McLaughlin encourages parents to lead their children in loving the truth using a similar principle.

“Rather than protecting my kids from divergent ideas, or urging them to affirm all beliefs equally, I want to equip them to have real conversations with real people who really think differently from them—and from me,” writes McLaughlin. “I want them to learn how to listen well and how to question what they hear. If what I believe is true, it will stand up to scrutiny.”

In conversations with our children, however big or small, may we exchange fear of what is false for a deep love of the truth.