Mrs. Mommy

I was a teacher before I was a parent. And becoming a parent made me a better teacher. I often joke with my students that my first line of discipline in the classroom is to shoot them the "evil Mommy eye" when they act up. But this morning something strange happened and all my roles got reversed.

After breakfast I made my usual announcement for all the kids to brush their teeth, pack their backpacks and wait for the bus.

I heard the boy go in the bathroom. I heard water running. I saw him standing at the door with his backpack.

I went into the bathroom to pick up the hand towel that had been tossed on the floor and put all the tooth brushes and tooth paste back in their holders. Except that Easton's toothbrush was bone dry.

Oh, bother.

Me - (happy voice) Easton? Did you brush your teeth?
Easton - (happy voice) Yes!
Me - (firm voice) Easton. Did you brush your teeth?
Easton - (slightly annoyed) I said, Yes.
Me - (hacked off) Easton. Did. You. Brush. Your. Teeth?
Easton - (not backing down and not realizing I had evidence - mad voice) YES!
Me - Show me the toothbrush you used.
Easton - Walking to bathroom he doesn't say a word but grabs toothbrush and paste and angrily starts to brush his teeth because somehow this is now all my fault.

Knowing that his bus was due any minute and my choices were limited in immediate punishments for not telling the truth my brain went into teacher mode. Before I could stop myself I hear the following words come out of my mouth:

"While you are at school today I want you to write 100 words about why you should always tell the truth" 

So instead of sending a student home with a discipline assignment, I think I sent my child to school with a discipline assignment.

Easton was not aware that he was dealing with a trained professional because he immediately tried to negotiate the word tally. Silly boy. Now he has to do 110.

And to his credit, the boy came home having written 113 words about telling the truth. The whole paper was filled with examples of how one could get in trouble by not telling the truth. (They would not get to watch TV, they would get toys taken away, their parents would be mad at them). But this did give us an opportunity to talk about whether telling lies were only bad if one were caught. If no one ever found out, would it still be okay to lie? He had to think about that one for a bit.

Time out was much easier. I do not look forward to preteenagedom.