Anyway, I have caught both kids lying and I have to say I’m not gentle about it. I speak sternly. I don’t yell but I looked them dead in the eyes and say “Are you lying to me?”. I have pulled out “God can see everything even if I can’t.” They said no and then I went searching for the evidence of the lie. I want my kids to understand that there are extreme consequences for lying. Yeah, right now it is not extreme but if I don’t have an extreme reaction, then I don’t think they will understand that any lie no matter how large or small is wrong. I’m afraid that if I don’t make the punishment clear and direct then they will start lying about little things and think that is no big deal. One little lie will grow to a bigger one and a bigger one after that. I normally put kids in time out in a chair for the length of time that matches their age and then ask them if they know why they are in time out.

My mom was very good an making sure I could not lie. Too this day, I’m a really bad liar. She would be stern, looking me dead cold in the face and ask me if I was lying. She started this from the very first lie. I explained to my kids that when you lie people stop believing everything you say, that your word means nothing. For instance, if you told them that the house was on fire and it wasn’t, the one time that the house was on fire people would believe them and people could get hurt. For some kids, using extremes may not work. But the point that I am trying to press to my kids is the lying is wrong every single time and we have to be strong enough to tell the truth every time. It’s easier to teach about lying when it’s the small stuff. I would rather fight this battle now then later.