When Evan was about six or seven years old, he took up lying. Not big lies. What big lies would a little boy have? He would lie about how many pieces of candy he had eaten or if it was he who had tried to give Barnie the Bear a bath (that was a mess!). He wasn't good at lying. I could tell, of course, by the way he stammered and looked around, as if to find the perfect, most convincing words.
So one day, after he told a lie, I said, "Evan, don't lie to me. I can tell when you are lying."
Surprised, he asked "How?"
I guess I should have been prepared for that question. But I wasn't. I thought he would simply say, "Okay, Mom." I didn't want to tell him how I could tell he was lying and essentially teach him how to lie better.
So, in a panic, I said, "I can tell because your tongue turns black."
That's right. My best tactic to keep my son from lying was to lie to him.
It sort of worked. Everytime he lied in the future, it was clearly obvious because he tried to speak while hiding his tongue.
1 comment:
When mom's lie, it is less like a sin and more like a military tactic...and we all know that sins committed in the military are passed over and pardoned in heaven...it's the same with moms.
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