Lying and Stealing OH NO!

Today I was speaking to Chantal, the lady that takes care of the kids at the gym daycare. She told me that on Monday she had asked Alex (my three year old) if he had a toy. There was a little boy there too and was missing his toy. He told her, “No”.

He did in fact have it and brought it home and was playing with it.

Today she mentioned it to me and asked me if I saw the toy. I had no idea what she was talking about, but my husband did. He said he did see it, and Alex said I bought it for him.

So in my mind he is now lying and stealing! What a great thing to react to.

But I had to understand that at 3 1/2 years old he does not know what is good or bad. He obviously knew that he did something that did not feel right, because he would not have lied about it.

We decided it was a teachable moment in that he also needed to take responsibility for his actions. The next day he went back to the gym and gave Chantal the toy back and apologized for taking it, and then lying about it.

We all celebrated how brave he was for doing that.

These are the teachable moments for our children. It is important for us as parents not to react, but to calmly tell our children what our values are.

“We are honest and always tell the truth. You don’t ever have to take something that is not yours, because you are abundant. If you do this again, there will be consequences.” And then determine what those consequences are for you and your family.

 
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