Lying....

I've been thinking about this a lot recently.  I tell Luke ALL. THE. TIME, I hate liars more than thieves.  How can you teach your child not to lie, when you lie?  And I'm not talking about 'Oh, your hair looks fine', or 'That skirt doesn't make your butt look big'.  I'm talking about 'I have a college degree' or 'I've swum the English Channel' type of lies.  When neither one of those are true.  The college degree one really bothers me. I've got a degree that I worked my a$$ off for, and am still paying Sallie Mae for 10+ years after graduation.  For someone to just blithely say 'Oh, I have a degree' when they don't, makes it seem like anyone can get one, it's just super easy.  When it's not just super easy. 

And how do you tell your children not to lie when you're lying yourself?  Apparently, it's do as I say, not as I do.  Which how hypocritical is that?  And that shows the kids that it's ok to lie as they grow up.  They're the kids that when they're adults aren't going to think twice about lying and saying they have degrees or higher degrees than they actually have.  I've tried to teach Luke that even if you're going to get in trouble, it's better to not lie and be honest, because once I find out you've lied, I will punish you more for that than I would have if you'd told the truth.

I read this book last week, and I'll be danged if I can't remember the title.  It was all about lying and why people lie.  His basic premise was that people lie to make themselves feel better about themselves.  Which makes sense.  Why would you lie about something that really, no one cares about.  To make yourself seem more important than you really are to others. And really, who cares if you don't have a million dollars and a horse?  If you say you do, and we find out you don't, then it makes people judge you poorly.