There have to be rules. Some people have strict codes of conduct dictated by their culture or comandments handed down by their relicgion. Others are more liberal and have fluid, organic guidelines. But at the end of the day, we all live by some form of rules. The alternative is absolute chaos and anarchy (a bit like Monday morning in the O’Griffiths household)

In our house there are two fundamental rules that NOBODY breaks. We do not lie. We do not hurt eachother.

After all is said and done and the dishwasher is fought over and the swimming kit is lost and found and lost again, the only rules that really matter are that we respect eachother and care for eachotehrs feelings. THat means not breaking trust by lying and not hurting eachother either physically or emotionally.

The reason I am spouting all this morality to you my friends is that Witchling 10 has developed a bit of a habit of lying through her teeth. She’ll lie about the silliest of things and when she’s caught (inevitably) out in her lie she will cry as though we have just kicked her favourite kitten! The solution to this, we have discovered, is all in the consequence.

For every rule that is broken there has to be a consequence. In our house, if you lie then you lose your pocket money. All of it. Now Witchling 10 has her eye on some rather swanky bright red patent shoes in Tammy Girl. They have cuban heels and are, all in all, a bit gorgeous.  I won’t buy them for her because they are not school shoes and she has party shoes already and to be frank, since they are not likely to fit my size 9 feet I don’t see why she should have the prettiest shoes in the house! She is therefore saving like mad to buy them.  She needs £20 to get them. So far she has amassed a grand total of £4 out of a possible £30. If only she would tell the truth, she would have the shoes AND a field day in Claire’s Accessories to boot!