Lies! Lies! Lies!

We took the kids to eat at Panda Express this evening. It was "Salk Elem" night and 20% of our total was donated to Layla's school. Since we can't make it all her school events, we did our part. While at dinner, we chit chatted about each family member's events. Mommy was in the middle of sharing stories from her first grade adventures, when she looked over at Layla's fingers. She, of course, forgot to use her fork and was using her fingers to slurp up noodles when I noticed a "blue" forefinger.

"What happened to your finger?" *shrugs* "What finger?" *points* "That finger? Why is it blue?" "Ooooh that finger....nothing!" (LIE #1) "Nothing?! It looks like you've been eating kool-aid." "Eating kool-aid?! What?! No. I didn't eat anything." (LIE #2) "Well it's stained from something, how did it get stained?" "I don't know." (LIE #3) "You don't know, huh? Well I know that's what a finger looks like when you eat kool-aid. Were you eating kool-aid?" "No." "No?! Hmm...well you were eating something that stains your finger. Was it some type of candy?" "Umm...." "Oh yeah, like Fun Dip?!" "No...but okay Tomi and I like to trade things so she gave it to me." "Gave you what? Kool-aid?" "No. This bottle where I dip my finger in...." "Oh the candy you're not allowed to eat. The candy that is just flavored sugar." *head goes down* "Yes." "You know you're not allowed to eat that candy, it's really bad for you. So you took candy you're not allowed to eat and tried to lie about it." *silence* "Wow Gurly! You lied! That's worse than just saying, 'Tomi gave me some candy.' You knew it was wrong by taking the candy and then you tried to hide it." *shakes my head* "Yes I did." "Well that candy goes to the trashcan, where is it?" "At home." "Okay well when we get home we'll throw it away and we'll need to have a talk in your bedroom." *head down*

All the way home, she tried to distract me by talking about everything she learned in Navajo class and her plans for the next day. She admired the stars and moon. She talked about her DS. She rushed into the house and tried to race to the bathroom for shower time. But Momma didn't forget.

"Zack, you need to get out. I need to talk to Layla. Where is the candy?" *she pulls it out from beneath a pile of papers, concealed.* "Wow! You tried to hide it. That tells me that you knew it was wrong and still did it. You were willing to lie about it and hide it. How am I supposed to trust you if you can lie about the small stuff?" "I know it was wrong. I shouldn't have lied. I will take the consequence for my actions." "Okay, that means a spank."

As it pains me to do so, there we were mom and daughter. It hurts me more than she'll ever know and all it took was one. She knew what she did was wrong. I walked out of the room, crushed. She didn't see the tear that fell down my cheek, but she learned a very valuable lesson tonight. After a couple of minutes, I returned to the room and hugged her. Told her I love her, she tried hard to be resistant and continued to cry and try to hide under her pillow. She needed a little tickling and a quick chat on how to get control of our emotions. I told her, "Why hold on to anger now? It's over, you know it's wrong and you won't do it again because I believe you when you said you would." And it was done!

*I'm so blessed with a church who teaches me the value of disciplining in a Godly manner. I'm so happy that I took those parenting classes because I really think this structured method of spanking does more wonders than just having a go at it. Tonight was only Layla's 3rd time ever getting a formal spank from me and/or Dad.*