My 9 year old promised his mom he'd finish his homework before playing video games. He tried to sneak in some gaming time when she wasn't looking. I had to sit him down and explain that a man's word is his bond and nobody's going to trust you if you don't do what you say you're going to do. He seemed to understand it. That's the stuff that matters more than anything else I think.
That sneaking around phase is rough but it's also your window to teach him. My two would pull the same move, so now we check in together before gaming happens. Takes the temptation out of it.
Good catch on that one. I had to have the same talk with mine in the garage - told him a man's word is all he's got. Sounds like your son's learning the lesson now, which beats learning it the hard way later.
That's the tough one right there. My 8 year old pulled the same move last week. Had to sit down and talk about what keeping your word actually means. Seems like it stuck because he asked me to help him with homework before I even reminded him.
This is exactly what I'm trying to teach my boys too. It's easy for them to just say yes to everything mom asks and then do what they want anyway. How did you handle the consequence?
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Good catch on that. I deal with this constantly with my two. The sneaking around part is what gets me. Like, if you just told the truth about being tired of homework, we could work something out. But the dishonesty is the real issue.