The Truth Police

As parents we have to come up with creative ways to keep our kids "in check". And while I was doing home daycare I dealt with a lot of lying.....nobody fessed up to coloring on my newly painted walls with red crayon, or breaking the toy, or putting a sucker in Bailey's hair, but those things happened and nobody ever came forward and said "I did it Ms. Angela, I'm so sorry". In my world that's what would have happened, but unfortunately that's not the case.

One day while dealing with my own children lying and creating a hectic situation I had a light bulb moment.....one of those parenting moments when you are reaching for SOMETHING that will work. I was tired of threatening Santa, I was tired of talking about God's rules, and I came up with a milder version of the police. The Truth Police were created by me for the sake of my sanity good of the children.

What exactly were the Truth Police, well, they were created at the spur of a moment and I kind of went with the following....the Truth Police know when someone has lied and they will make a report about it and if it's bad enough or if someone continues to lie they could take you to jail. At the time my son Noah was terrified of chickens and upon hearing this he cried and said "Are there chickens in jail", to which I shook my head and said "Yep, there are chickens in jail".

I have the telephone number for the Truth Police and I can call them any time I think the children are lying about something.....as soon as I pick up the phone one of them fesses up to things I didn't even know they did and the other one cries because they don't want their brother to go to jail. One of my kids asked a daycare parent if they knew about the Truth Police and without missing a beat she said "Yep, they hand you that number in the hospital when babies are born". ha! ha! I had an accomplice!

The Truth Police have morphed over the years and now I don't find myself threatening them so much. I look back now and think that the creation of the Truth Police was my tool in teaching my children to make good choices, at least I hope so. Or it could be the thing that lands them in therapy.....that and chickens! Sometimes you have to think so quickly about how to handle a situation as a parent that you come up with surprisingly creative things. As I go into this weekend I hope to not need the Truth Police, they have helped me many of times, but I would just like a peaceful weekend.....maybe I should create the Peace Police?

Happy Parenting!