Lesson Teaching

Early one weekend, I told Savanna to go upstairs and get her clothes to get ready for her shower, so we could head off to where we needed to go. A little too much time had passed, so I opened the door and asked her what she was doing. She came to the head of the stairs and said, "well, I'm not watching T.V."...... Hm, alright, up the stairs I went, stifling a smile. When I rounded the corner, some colorful cartoon was gracing the screen of her television. I reached down and swatted her butt, and told her that she had just lost her t.v. I then made her gather her clothes and go take her shower. She trudged off down the stairs, obviously upset that she had gotten a very rare spanking, but not crying. When she finished her shower, she went upstairs to get dressed. No more than a half a minute later, I heard her crying. I went up to have a little chat with her. I explained to her that she had lost her television because she had turned it on to watch it instead of getting in the shower like she was supposed to. Then I explained that she had gotten her spanking for lying to me. We talked for a few minutes, until I was satisfied that she understood that she would have been punished for making a mistake either way, but lying to me earned her extra punishment. I then told her that I always love her, no matter what happens, and gave her a hug. I then told her she could earn her t.v. back by staying out of trouble for the rest of the weekend, that it would be back in her room for her next visit. Her feeble attempt at a cover story made me grin, and it hurt my heart to hear her cry, but I know that if I let that keep me from teaching her a moral, it could harm her for life. All in all, she seems to be learning and growing up well. I hope it continues.