There was always one rule in our house, and that was not to lie.
Everyone made mistakes, but you had to own up to them.
Once you lied, you had to continue to lie to cover the first lie you started with. My son broke that rule several weeks ago. He kept telling us he had a job, and he was working at the local HVAC company. Neither of us believed him, because he had no skills to work at the local HVAC company. When he said he was sweeping and learning the inventory, it made more sense, but he never came home dirty and looked just as fresh as when he left for work. Some evenings, he would come home late, but my husband wouldn’t question him about it. He told me the boy was eighteen, and we had to give him some leeway. He was living with us, and I was sure he was lying about his job. I followed him one afternoon, which made my husband angry. I wanted to know what he was really doing. When he went into the community college, I was dumbfounded. Why would my son be lying and telling me he was going to work when he was in school? This made little sense. I went to my husband with what he had learned, but he said nothing to me. Later that evening, he said our son was going to school for HVAC, and working his way through school by working at the local HVAC company. He wanted to surprise me when he graduated in six months.