The Truth Pays

Liz and I have finally gave into the pressure and will attempt to keep a blog.  I have done this in the past and the results were weak so I hope this time we can do better.  

As our opening blog I wanted to share a valuable lesson I learned from my four year old, C.C., seen here to the right.

Several weeks ago I came home from work and was met in the garage by C.C. with a very serious look on his face.  The two kids usually rush to the garage and meet me when I come home, but by the look on C.C.'s face I could tell something was different for him this particular day.  I got out of the car and C.C. looked me square in the eyes and told me he was really sorry.  He said, "It was an accident Dad.  I really didn't mean to, but it was mom's fault.  She told me to do it downstairs and I'm really sorry."  

At this point I didn't even know what he'd done, but I was ready to forgive him for his honesty and genuine sorrow.  My mind was trying to figure out what he possibly could have done that would bring him to greet me this way.  He has done many things, including burning a hole in our carpet trying to cook toast with a light bulb, and never had I been greeted like this. 

He took my hand and brought me into the house and showed me the damage.  There in our den was a meat skewer/arrow stuck in the wall.  He had a small bow made out of a wire hanger and arrows made from skewers.  We had played with these outside but today was cold and as he said, mom told him to do it downstairs.  Inside I was laughing, but C.C. was so serious and sorry that I tried to be serious and make it a learning moment by informing him it was wrong to shoot anything into our walls or anyone.  I knew that he knew this already and so I was kind of stuck on how to punish him.  

After talking about it and promising it wouldn't happen again we went on with our evening.  Just before dinner C.C. brought me to his room to show me that he had cleaned it all by himself and how good he had done.  It looked amazing and I was shocked that he took it upon himself to do this without any pushing from Liz or I.  I found this might be a time to teach him that our actions have consequences.  

In the past when C.C. does something good or helps we reward him with a quarter or dime.  He has a small bank in his room and a book with a quarter collection in it.  I had several quarters in my pocket and pulled them out to have him pick the shiniest one as his payment for cleaning his room.  He inspected them all and carefully picked one out.  After handing him the quarter I then told him he had to pay me the quarter back for putting a hole in our wall.  He had to help pay to fix it and the shiny quarter would have to go back into my pocket.  His face and heart dropped as he thought it over and handed me the quarter back.  Inside I wanted to give him a million quarters for being such a good kid, but I really wanted him to learn something from what he had done.  After taking his quarter back and adding it with the other change his face perked up and he looked at me square in the eye again.  

He then said, "Dad, now you have to pay me two quarters because I told you the truth."