Somebody's Gotta Be The Bad Cop
It's a dirty job, but, unfortunately, somebody's gotta do it. And this weekend? Well, I was the one who got stuck being the bad cop. Cause short people lying straight to my face is just not something that I take too lightly.
It all went down on Sunday, which was an unfortunate flurry of activity around here with the kids coming off the high of their first official sleepover. Homework needed to be done, errands had to be run, and a block party was supposed to be attended. Needless to say, the combination of an overflowing to-do list mixed with the overall household exhaustion factor was nothing short of a recipe for disaster. If s--- was ever gonna hit a fan, Sunday would no doubt have been that day.
So when I busted my daughter flat-out lying to me about her orthodontic device that we've shelled out nearly $3,000 for, I was not about to let that slide. (Trust me when I tell you that it's such a stupid lie that I'm not even gonna bore you with all the details.) Just know that I gave her multiple opportunities to come clean with the truth, and she chose the Pinocchio approach, even though I'd forewarned her that the block party was what was at stake. And when I told her that we would not, in fact, be going to the block party? Well you woulda thought that I'd told her to gnaw off her own arm.
Talk about an eruption of emotions -- there was snot, there was wailing, and there were ten kinds of hysteria blowing up right there on my kitchen floor. My husband (who usually plays the role of bad cop) even pulled me to the side at one point to ask me if this was all worth it. I assured him, however, that lying was simply something that I would NOT put up with. Some sort of ground work needed to be laid down because like it or not, these little "innocent" creatures would one day turn into sneaky, conniving teenagers. So by gosh, by golly, I stuck to my guns -- block party be damned!
Yeah, it hurt my heart like hell to see my little girl so upset and pissed off at me, but I'm first and foremost, her parent, not her friend. Now unfortunately, given that she's only eight, I don't really know if her little brain totally comprehended this particular lesson or not, but I know that I've gotta set some kind of precedence here. Give 'em an inch, and we all know that the little turkeys will gladly take a mile. Next time though? My hubby is totally gonna be the bad cop....
