a 5-year old lives up to his middle name

Thomas' middle name is Luther. Which is very appropriate. For it was Luther who said, "Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly." Here's a typical conversation:

Ben (7) - Mum, Thomas hit me!

Thomas (5) - (indignantly) No I didn't, I punched him!

Here's a conversation we had a couple of weeks ago:

Thomas - Mummy, I'm not going to do anything bad today.

Mum - Ok, you try and we'll see how you go with that.

10 minutes and several acts of naughtiness later:

Mum - Thomas, so how's it going? Have you managed not to do anything bad yet?

Thomas - No, Mummy (with a self-deprecating grin).

Mum - Well, honey, I've never gone through a day without doing anything bad either. Which is why we both need Jesus to die for us.

And just to show the lesson sank in, a week later:

Thomas - (gleefully) Mummy, you will be naughty every day!

Mum - (tongue in cheek) Thomas, it's good to see you're developing a robust understanding of your mother's sinfulness.

Moral of the story: never teach a child something you are unwilling for them to teach back to you.

And later that day ...

Mum - Thomas, do you remember the day you said you would do nothing bad?

Thomas - Ye-es.

Mum - Did you manage to do nothing bad?

Thomas - No. That was a lie!