"In the off chance you have leftover french fries" Read more

How about: Read more

I totally agree with the first part, but the bit about promising will not work for my guys. They are 4 and they have absolutely no concept of what it means to promise something. For example, if they say they want to watch a show before we go to the store, and I tell them they can watch their show now if they promise… Read more

Speaking as someone who still feels guilty over lying to my mother half a century ago, it's all in the parents' attitude, no matter what their words are. If parents are bothered by the truth, their reaction will bother the kid. Parents usually know when the kid is lying, so shaping their reaction is the crucial… Read more

I think it depends. reubendevrle's quote only makes sense if you're pretty sure the kid did something and just want them to fess up to it. Read more

blogging is the poetry of journalism Read more

I made my mom cry one time that she had punished me for the wrong reason. And she was right. Tore me up to see her cry, when it was a lie. Read more

What a useful post! Thank you Melanie. Read more

Best way to trick a kid into telling the truth: "Did you eat the cookie that was on the table?" -No "Oh. Okay. Well, was it good?" -Yeah Read more

I've tried to impress on my 8yo son the image of a fork in the road, where the 'lie' road might look easier, but eventually it's dark and lonely, while the 'truth' road can be a steep hill (sometimes with a mad mom at the top), but it's straight and you can see where you're going. Time will tell how useful that is to… Read more

"I will not be upset with you if you peeked, and if you tell the truth, I will be really happy." Read more

The real key is following through on that whole "I wont be upset with you" thing. Obviously, if you say it you have to follow through or your kid will never trust you, but it's hard to hold your composure when you realize your dryer is full of unpopped popcorn. Read more

Sometime offering immunity is OK, other times it's not what do you suggest to say when immunity can't be granted if what you think happened did actually happen? My mom & dad always said this to me, "I want you to us the truth, while we might get mad at the truth because you did something bad, if you tell us a lie and… Read more

Which is all well and good, but speaking as a former child, I think I need to be protected from self-incrimination. Where's the Miranda warning when you really need it? Read more

I also think Blogging to promote/expand your 'product'. Read more

It's fascinating to see this today, just after a friend sent me a link to Spritz, a company that uses rather similar technology, though they make a point of identifying an optical recognition point for each word and then aligns each successive word around that point. Cool stuff! Read more

Making a living from a blog is definitely possible if you're a good writer and work hard. I started a prepper/survivalist blog when I was deployed to Afghanistan a year ago and I now make enough money to live off just that. I started a lifestyle blog for men once I got to that point and man - I forgot how much work… Read more

A friend of mine started an online literary mag in the fall, and I've found writing a couple pieces per month for her publication has been an awesome outlet. It's non-fiction, fiction, poety, etc... so there is a really diverse group of writers and all sorts of skill and experience levels represented. Read more

Dark workstations rule! Read more

tl;dr: Probably not. Read more