Sunday, January 11, 2015

The Liars and the Dirty, Dirty Cheats

There is nothing I loathe more than being lied to.  Nothing.  I am an honest person.  Lying isn't a part of my life.  That doesn't mean I walk around saying every thought that comes to my head or that I don't have secrets.  I do manage to keep some things to myself.  But, should you ask, I will tell you the truth.  I will not hold back in order to protect your feelings.  I will trust you to decide for yourself whether it is worth being upset over.

I expect the same.

Why do people lie?  How has it become a part of our nature?

My 7 year old daughter is struggling with telling the truth.  She lies all the time.  If I ask if she's practiced violin or piano, she always says, "yes" even when I know she hasn't.  She makes up stories about other people who've hurt her feelings.  She's even broken things and blamed her brothers.

I understand this is typical kid behavior, but I have no patience for it.  I absolutely will not tolerate lying.  She loses television time when she's caught in a lie.  I wonder what more I can do to prevent the behavior.  I'm thinking about adding chores, but she hasn't really started doing them yet.

What chores do your 7 year old children do?  What punishments do you implement for lying?  Keep in mind, I intend to punish my child.  I do not want to hear about your ridiculous, misguided, raising-an-asshole, redirection principles.  I'm specifically inquiring about punishment.

Shit, I just called kids "assholes" again.  I'll drop another 17 Facebook friends after this post, I'm sure. That's ok.  I'll shake it off.