Today we had to go through with something we didn’t really want to do. It didn’t bring us any pleasure or satisfaction. It made our son unhappy. But maybe he’ll learn we mean what we say.

Last spring we were having some problems getting Jeremy to tell the truth regarding school. Lying about homework just came too easy for him.

Do you have homework tonight?

Yeah, I already did it.

Or

No, we didn’t have any today.

Then we would find out that he was actually behind and earning himself a big fat D. My mistake was in taking his word for it. I’m not going to make that mistake again.

So we made a promise. You will not be able to play on the Xbox again until you have at least a B average in all classes. And as a bonus, if we find him lying to us again, we will sell the Xbox.When the B average that didn’t materialize by the end of the school year, it should not have been a surprise that Xbox would not be available all summer.

School started up again 3 weeks ago. Still no Xbox privileges as we haven’t seen a report card yet. So what happens the second week of school? More lies about homework.

Today the Xbox is headed to a new owner. We’re not happy to do it. It’s probably more painful for us to do it than it is for him to watch us do it. But as parents, this is part of our job. Teaching our children that there are consequences for our actions is one of the most important tasks we have. And when it comes to honesty, we have to be brutal. Honesty should be second nature to our kids, to everyone.

Sometimes honesty has a way of biting you in the ass. I have recently had the misfortune of having my honest answers and advice used against me. I trusted people to be honest with me and mean what they said. Will I make the same mistake again? I honestly don’t know.