Pants on Fire...

Someone has had an inclination to lie to us lately and today was a bit of the last straw.  Eating has often been a problem of late too, and the two are almost always linked together.  We've been a little easy on our usual rules this summer, with a pregnant Mom, a typically half-himself Dad, and it being summer and all that...but that's all about to abruptly end thanks to a little girl who has been given too much rope of late.

No more eating away from the kitchen table...period.  

No more lunches out if she can't manage them at home.

No more snacks if she's not eating her meals.

And lies are instant tickets to her bedroom with hesitant reprieves.

She's not a liar...never really has been, and we're certainly not looking for opportunities to cultivate the skill, so we'll tighten up the ship, and see what comes of it.

We must also break the newest habit of tears followed by, "I didn't mean it."  She
s been using it a lot and somehow needs to learn that there's an enormous difference between intention and apology.  In the past we've linked the statement with lying but it hasn't seemed to work.  It's more prevalent than ever, and we need a new tack.  She's not getting it.  Mean it or not, you are still responsible for what you do.  That's a difficult thing to articulate to a three year old.  We'll find a way.  We always have, and she's a pretty good kid...a very good kid.

I feel like Wyle E. Coyote hatching a plan.  I wonder if there's an ACME Co. for parenting tools?  That sh!t never worked anyway, did it?