Liar, liar

I was at work late Thursday afternoon when I got a text from a mom of Cate's "BFF". It read, "Cate and [BFF] got into a lil trouble at after school program :) did u hear?!" Uh-oh. When I got a hold of the BFF's mom, she said Cate asked her BFF to tell the teachers in the after school program that she was going home sick. From what was relayed, Cate said she wanted to walk home and surprise her dad who took a vacation day to take care of Max. When the mom went to pick up her daughter, the site coordinator informed her of what happened and the BFF acknowledged the real story that Cate asked her to tell a story and that she wasn't really sick. Lie #1. This was not good.

When I got home from work, I mentioned to Cate that her BFF got in trouble for lying. Kyle then told me that the site coordinator called earlier asking about Cate's whereabouts at the same time she walked in the back door. When Kyle asked Cate why she came home instead of going to the after school program, she told Kyle that she forgot because she thought it was Tuesday (the day she normally walks home from school). Lie #2.
This really wasn't good.

It seems that she's a little young to be concocting such stories. Needless to say, we had a long conversation with her and dealt out her punishment--1: apologize to her BFF, 2: the planned playdate with another friend on Friday was postponed.

How would you / do handle your child if he / she lies?