Liar Liar
This week my son told me a bold faced lie. To my face, looking me in the eye, lying. And, I believed him, until the next morning when I accidentally caught him out.
Noah loves his gameboy. He's a little bit of a techie, but it can't be helped, it's partly genetic - just look at his dad. We got him the gameboy last Christmas, and we picked it especially because we thought it would be great for when we go on car trips. (Let's face it, it's also great when the two of us are using both the computer and the tv) The gameboy's greatest asset - portability, is also its greatest detriment. The house rule is: no gameboy upstairs in the bedrooms.
I was putting Noah to bed the other night and he said to me "I don't need a story, I want to go straight to sleep." Well, that's a little weird but not unheard of when it's Dora's night to pick the story.
"And I want the light off and to sleep with the door closed" Hmmm, well that's a little stranger, since he usually claims to be afraid of the dark. So I asked him point blank "Noah, where is your gameboy?"
Him: "it's downstairs but it's in a secret spot where the babies can't find it."
Me: "But it is downstairs?"
Him: "yes"
Me: "ok"
When I went in the next morning to wake him I lifted the blankets off to gently shake him and what do I find but a little indigo gameboy and a very tired little boy. Now as a mother, I have a lot of sympathy for my children but I swear if he had uttered an "I'm tired" I would have barked "Drop and give me 20". Instead I pocketed the gameboy and told him he would get his punishment later. I needed time to think about this one...
Later in the day Keith and I were talking about the incident. Noah did say he was sorry. And I know he was sorry....that he was caught. But was he sorry that he lied? and that he disobeyed?
How do you instill a child with a heart of truth - how do you teach him that he has to honor his word? Last night I told him that I don't want him to lie. That when he tells us the truth he will earn our trust.
sigh...I was such a good parent when they were babies...
Lee
2 comments:
A complete feeling of shock and disappointment isn't it? At Dora's age you don't question the intent as much as the act. But at Maddy and Graham's age, I get downright ticked off that they would calculate such a plan. And mad at myself that they could pull one over on me. Graham got caught last year in a similar situation, I thought "Oh no, I have a liar for a son" It only happened once though, thankfully. He worked his way back up to sainthood.
Funny how these situations seem so funny when they are happenening to other peoples kids. I would say take away his gameboy but that is more of a punishment for you then for him. hmmmm?
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