Honest Dishonesty

In my last post, Pearls of Wisdom, I forgot an important one: How to loose your standing in the Celestial Kingdom...Have children. I always thought I was doing okay on my way to the Pearly Gates, with the normal, not so incriminating offenses. Then, I became a mother. I have become a professional liar, coated with the excuse that, it's for the best. So, not only do I lie, but I justify it. You know the saying, you can justify yourself right into.... Well, I tried a stunt the other night that had a hilarious backfire.

Chase is great friends with his cousin Zach, who lives a couple hours away. They were coming to spend the weekend with us. They left their house about suppertime, which would put them here at bedtime. I am a stickler about bedtimes. It is one of the weaknesses that is leading me off the straight and narrow. I am a beast when I am tired, dealing with a child that is tired. I like bedtimes. I was torn between letting Chase stay up late to greet Zach, or having him asleep when they got there. I wanted him to be rested and fun the next day. I decided against both ideas, and went right to lying to my child. There is only one clock in our house that he can read right now. So, when eyes were averted, I took the clock down, set it forward an hour, and put it back. Magically, it was now 7:30 pm! I announced to Chase that it was time to get ready for bed. He looked at the clock, checked the time for himself, and said, okay. Guilt, guilt, guilt. I was actually pretty okay with my dishonsety, except for the fact that he took it so well, and my husband shaking his head every two seconds asking me if I felt okay about what I had just done.

I WAS feeling pretty proud of myself, until my sister-in-law called, en route to our house. She mentioned that it really would be nice for Chase to stay up and see the kids. I hemmed and hawwed and finally decided to relent and let Chase stay up. While I was still on the phone with Birgitta, I grabbed the clock down and changed it back to 6:30. Chase, as if he really knew what was going on, froze in front of the clock, dropped his jaw to the ground, said quietly,
"What the?", then ran into my legs, hugging me while exclaiming, "Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!" So, in one fell-swoop, I am being sung as a hero, hailed for my magic ability to turn time. Chase knew nothing of my infraction. He only knew that his mother had somehow bought some precious time for a five-year old to stay up late to see his cousin. Wow. If he only knew. As I said in my post before, the only thing that will make him feel better about all of the lying and hypocrosy that seems to flow from well-meaning parents, is the fact that when he is the Dad, his turn will come!