I need some help! DS4 has taken to lying and sneaking to get treats.
Before Halloween he raided the candy dish and hid the wrappers. He 'fessed up to being the culprit when I confronted him, so I didn't punish him beyond removing the candy dish and not giving him any more candy that day.
Then a week or so ago, he and a neighbor boy raided the leftover Halloween candy and lied about it. I have no doubt it was the neighbor's idea--he's older and he has a habit of leading DS4 into temptation. But still...
DS4 lost treats for 3 days.
Then, just now, I gave him some cheese while I prepared some hot chocolate for him. As a VERY unusual treat, he was going to be allowed to have some potato chips. He whined about having to eat the cheese, but I said, "You need some protein. Just wolf it down and then you can have the stuff you want." Almost as soon as I said it, he announced that he was done, and I heard the trash in the can settle a bit.
It didn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that he'd tossed the cheese--especially given that he hadn't allowed enough time for chewing! And he lied to me about it until I pointed out the cheese.
As a result, he's losing all treats for a week, and naturally I gave him the "I'm very disappointed" and "How can I trust you when you lie?" speeches. When he cried about it, I asked if he was upset about doing something wrong or upset about getting caught. That's when he decides to be truthful: "Upset at getting caught," he replied. Oh, child!
I know that some of this behavior is normal for the age. But I never went through it with DS7, who really just never, ever lied. Not ever. I have always known that DS7's behavior is not the norm, but it IS what I am used to. This is all new to me, and as I am as pathologically honest as DS7 is, I find it more disturbing than I probably should.
Any thoughts, suggestions, advice?
If it helps, DS4 is my highly emotional kid, very big on immediate gratification. So I really do know this is not so much a character flaw as a developmental phase and a "teachable moment." Still, it bothers me a lot!
