Oh the JOYS of parenthood.

Sometimes it just plain sucks. Sucks I tell ya! It is so hard sometimes to be the parent and punish the child. Here's my story.

Tonight we are getting ready for bed and it is time to brush teeth. At school a couple of days ago, Brooklyn got a teethbrushing chart (they are learning about oral care I guess.) Anywho, she got this chart and LOVES to be able to mark down when she has brushed. Whatever works right? Well, Chloe took it upon herself tonight to scribble ALL over it. Making it pretty much useless. I wasn't in there when it happened and Brooklyn was obviously upset.
When I got into the bathroom Brooke told me that Chloe had done it.
I asked her "Chloe, did you do it?"
She looked me dead in the eye and told me that no she had not. *SIGH* I asked her who did it. Without hesitation she told me Jack did it. Okay, let's ask Jack. He almost always fesses up when he's done something.
"Jack, did you do this???"
"No, I didn't do it, Chloe did."
Uh huh.
So I asked her again and she finally said that yes she had. Now this is not the first time she has lied. She has been getting into the whole lying phase lately and she just can't get away with it. She needs to learn her lesson and work through it. So, as it was 20 minutes until bedtime, she got sent to bed. You can imagine how that went. Crying, wailing, gnashing of teeth. You name it. I even got the "I wish daddy was here and not you. I wish I had another mommy, ect ect." ugh! I didn't back down though. She stayed in her room but made about as much noise as you can.
I got the other kids in bed at bedtime then went in to deal with her. Explained to her about lying, ect... for about the 10th time or more. Will it ever sink in?? She said that she wanted me to stay in for a prayer, but she didn't want to say it. I straight up told her that I wasn't the one that needed to ask forgiveness from Heavenly Father, she was. So after going back and forth about it, she finally said it. Let me just tell you it was just about the most heart wrenching prayer I have ever heard. She said the normal things but said "Can you forgive me Heavenly Father?" AHHH! I about started bawling.
Though it was sad, very sad, I think she may have "gotten it" a little bit. She said it is very hard to tell the truth and pray about it, but I know for a fact that she felt better afterwards. She stopped crying and went right to bed.

It is SO SO hard sometimes doing this whole parenting gig. I am always so sure that I am mucking it all up and making a mess out of things. I don't think i'm doing it right most times. It is just hard. Sorry if that got a bit rambly and didn't make sense. I really feel I needed to come back here and add that this whole incident that happened was done with sincerity. It may have come across that I was a bit harsh with her, but I wanted to say that I was firm, but gentle! If you know Chloe, you would know that I have to be firm and gentle with her or else it is DRAMA to the extreme!! Things are good :)