Someone recently told me as Ben is getting older to start taking advantage of “teachable moments”- everyday situations that lend themselves to teaching valuable moral lessons.
So, today the boys and I were playing and Ben threw a toy and it hit me in the foot. I looked at him and said, “Ben did you just throw a toy at mama”?
No.
Here we go. My son is lying to me. A teachable moment has arrived. Here is my big chance to teach truth and responsibility to my son. I leaned down so our faces were close for our serious conversation. It went like this:
Me: Buddy do you know what lying is?
Ben: Yeah.
Me: You do? (a little skeptical)
Ben: Yeah. ( a little more excited)
Me: O.K. Buddy, what’s a lie?
Ben: ROARRRRRRRR
I started laughing really hard and our moment was over. I guess we’ll keep trying.
You got played! But that’s hilarious.
exact same thing happened to me this week. “Baby are you lyin’ to daddy?” confusion ensues. roars begin. I’ve got to getting better at my pronunciation…
[...] Heh. [...]
Ben’s little heart is so sweet. Our truth telling saga goes like this the other day:
Audrey hits, pushes, possibly bites (I didn’t see it all) Clara over something that must have been really important. (Again, I missed most of it.)
I put Audrey in a timeout in her timeout chair and set the timer.
When it beeps I kneel down and do the whole Audrey, you’re here because you hit and pushed your sister and that’s not the way we treat people…blah, blah, blah.
I go on to say: “Now you need to tell Clara that you’re sorry.”
A: “No.”
Me: “Ummm…yes. When we hurt people we must apologize. Tell your sister you’re sorry.”
A: “I no sorry.”
Me: “Audrey, you hurt your sister now I want you to say sorry.”
A: “I no sorry. I mad. I hit.”
Hmmm….honesty wins, I guess?
My sweet little Ben would never lie. He just didn’t understand the question. I am sure he didn’t mean to throw the toy. I bet it just slipped out of his hand.