Monday Minute

We've been having a little issue around the house lately. Seems that Z2 is prone to embroidering the truth lately. Aw, heck. She flat out lied to me the other day. Looked me right in the eye and told me,"Nope, I didn't eat that after you told me not to."

Funny, why are there crumbs all over your face and the cookie count is much lower than it was ten minutes ago?

Now, this would not be a big deal if it was not becoming a habit. So I had to do something to make the punishment fit the crime. Quickly.

"Z2," I said,"I want to be able to trust you. I want you to keep your integrity- that's the fact that you always make the right choice and always tell the truth- clean. Every time we lie or do the wrong thing, it gets harder for other people to believe or trust us. So, I'm going to have you clean the kitchen floor."

"With a mop?" she says excitedly.

"No, baby, with a scrub brush."

"Oh. Why?" she asked.

"Well, while you are cleaning the kitchen floor, you can think of ways to keep your integrity clean."

"Okay," she says nonchalantly. "Sounds like fun to me. Where's the bucket?"

I get her set up. The first four tiles, great fun. The second four, well, okay. By the third set it was,"Mom, the WHOLE kitchen floor?"

"Yep, baby. The whole kitchen floor. That's how hard we have to work to clean out integrity once we get it dirty by lying or making bad choices."

Needless to say, it's been awfully honest around here the last few days. Whew.

Yours,

Melissa