Catholic Guilt

I carpool to school with a friend.  She brought Magoo home today.. and when he walked in the house, he was chewing a small piece of gum that she gave him in the car on the way home.  

Shortly after getting home, I asked him to change his clothes and to put away his things.  Five minutes later, he came out into the family room with a HUGE, juicy wad of fresh gum in his mouth. Very clearly, not the same piece as it was when he walked in the door.  He has been known to put multiple pieces of gum in his mouth at one time... so I asked him if he added more pieces.. he confidently said no. 

I asked, "Are you lying?"

He insisted "No!"

"Is that a different piece of gum?" I questioned....

Again, his response was, "No, mom."

I told him, "You are lying, spit it out" and I held my hand out.  

His defense was, "Well, mom, this is what happened.  My other piece of gum fell out of my mouth, so I got another piece of gum."

I explained that he shouldnt lie to me and that he should always tell the truth, even if its hard. I asked him if he understood this, and he said yes with a tear in his eye and came to me to give me a big hug.  I squeezed him, and then as he pulled away to go sit back down, he did what any good Catholic boy would do....  he made the sign of the cross.

School just started...  gotta love the nun teacher.