Liar, Liar

It's finally Friday! Gosh, it has been a LONG week. Getting up twice this week at 4am to run has definitely been an adjustment. Paired with rotating nights to wake up Lane to go potty has placed me in a fog the last few days. Last nights episode added to the haze and stress. It appears that a certain little boy in my house has felt the need lie in order to get the things he wants. Here's the breakdown.

As most of you know, every day Lane has to get at least 3 stickers at school in order to be able to get a reward at the end of the week. For me to track this, his teacher sends home a journal each day with the total he has earned. Yesterday there was a substitute in his room, as his teacher was out for the day. Dave offered to pick Lane up from daycare so he would be the first to hear of the days outcome. Once Dave got there Lane ran to him and exclaimed that he had 4 stickers and no reports at daycare. To us, that is a perfect day! Good days at school mean good nights at home with either DS or family Wii time. So, as I walked in Lane was playing DS on the couch. I asked him how his day was. It was then that the truth came out. He said he had a couple of problems and didn't get 4 stickers. When I asked him how many stickers he actually received he said he "thinks" he got 3 but wasn't sure because the teacher didn't have time to write his day in his journal.

And so began our discussion on telling the truth and the fact that no matter what he does, telling the truth is ALWAYS better than lying to cover it up. For the lying, his punishment was a 5 minute time out followed by no more DS. That news brought an academy award winning meltdown and night on "the dark side". This morning had a rocky start but he assured me that he would turn it around and finish off the week strong. Lets hope so, because I really want to see Yogi Bear and might be more disappointed than he would be if we can't go see it!

How do you deal with the issue of lying with your kids?