Step-parenting aside, I like to call on many of you for general parenting advice. How do you deal with young kids who lie all the time?

SS4 has been caught in so many lies lately. He even thinks of something else it could be (atleast we know he's getting smarter!). Some examples:
A) SS was sent to the car as we were all leaving the house to go to the mall, and when I got in the car his face was covered in chocolate. When asked what he ate, he lied and said nothing. He said he had chocolate milk at his grandma's house (he had been there that morning). Finally we discovered a half-eaten chocolate donut. I didn't know his grandma had sent him with them and that FDH had left them in the car. They were SS's donuts so he wouldn't have gotten in trouble for eating them, but he lied about. So we didn't let him play at hte play center in the mall.

Yesterday he was throwing rocks off of our deck into the yard and hit his sister, SD6 in the back of the head. When I finally got out what had happened from SD6, I asked him why he was throwing rocks into the yard? He said "I only throwed one." And that ONE rock hit your sister? "Yup." Before his time out I instructed him to go pick up the rock he threw. He came upstairs with a HANDFUL of rocks. I said, "Oh so you threw more htan just one?" He said, "No, I only throwed one. These were down there." So he lied again! I said Daddy just mowed the lawn and he wouldn't have left a pile of rocks there. Finally I got the truth out of him, and he served two time outs for lying.

C) Kids were eating a Kids Cuisine meal for dinner last night and he was instructed 3 times that he had to ask before he could eat his pudding. I was dealing with baby while he was eating and he said, "Can I be done?" I went to look and he had only eaten 1/3 of his meal and ALL of his pudding. I said, "You ate your pudding without asking?" and he said, "No, it was like that." I was like "REALLY? You're going to lie again?" And he refused to tell the truth. Another time out.

D) After hte kids were in bed, FDH and I were watching TV and we heard this thumping noise. We thought it was from outside. A few minutes later, the baby starts to cry like it was startled. FDH goes down to check, calms baby, and notices that SS is talking to himself in his bed. SS shares a wall with Baby's room. FDH discovers the thumping noise was SS kicking the wall. So he said to SS, "Did you wake up the baby by kicking the wall?" SS said, "No, the dog did it. Dog went into baby's room and woke him up." FDH got pretty mad at him and told him the lying will stop! The dog was with us upstairs the whole time.

E) This morning, I asked SS three times if he'd brushed his teeth, and he assured me he had. Then SD6 informed that she never saw him brushing his teeth. So then SS gets up and says "Oh yeah! I forgot to brush my top teeth...and my bottom teeth...." so I said to him "You lied AGAIN?" He just looked around.

So what do we do? I understand all kids go through this phase...it doesn't seem like time outs are doing much. He doesn't like them but obviously it's not a harsh enough punishment for lies. I had a heart to heart with him last night and told him that A) I don't like being 'mean' to him and having to put him in time outs, and when he lies he gets in more trouble than telling the truth, even if he doesnt want to tell us the truth it's always better. He seemed to get that....but then lied this morning.

I told FDH that we need to really pay attention to when he tells the truth about things so we can praise him, so that he understands he gets in more trouble for lying. I also realize we need to start taking things away or taking priveledges away when he lies.

What else can we do?