First Write Off in the Perry House

Tuesday was a sad day for me. For the last several days, Ashton has been random lying to me. It hasn't been anything major, but it isn't the point. A while back ago, we told the kids there was no more "joking" in our house because they weren't fulling understanding the difference in "just joking" and lying. In order to make it more clear, we said no more "joking". It seemed to be working and then bam.... Ashton lied and wanted to say he was "just joking". It is little things like I brushed my teeth, but he didn't or I didn't hit Maddie when clearly she didn't hit herself. However, lying is lying in my book and we have to put a stop to it now or it will become a bigger problem. I have been spraying vinegar in his mouth but that hasn't been working for some reason. (It is pretty effective in other areas.) I tried spanking him and making him sit in his room but that didn't seem to matter to him either. So, Tuesday he tipped the iceburg for me and Alex suggested a write off. I was hesitant but I just didn't feel like I was getting thru to him. So, I let him think about it in his room for about fifteen minutes then went to talk to him about what he'd done and why lying isn't acceptable. It didn't go as smoothly as I expected so I took him downstairs, wrote out "I will not lie." on the top of the piece of paper and told him to copy it down the page twenty times. He almost fell out of the chair. :( I felt a little bit bad, but knew that I had to stick to it and make him understand that he wasn't just going get a free pass. He has to learn.

I helped him get started and then left him at the counter to work on it. I had Maddie turn the tv off nearby so he wouldn't be distracted and had her go somewhere else to play. Over an hour later, he had finished. HOWEVER, he had written some of his numbers backwards, so I made him flip the page and re-write the numbers in the correct order. (20, not 02 for example) WOW, what an experience! Hopefully this got through to him and we won't have any more trouble with lying in our house!!