II Chronicles 7:14

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Liar, Liar...Pants on Fire

"Please God, let this just be a phase!"

Brooklyn is slowly learning the difference between "just joking" and lying, but in the meantime, I am about to sCrEaM! She Constantly says things that are untrue. It's rarely ever anything that really matters...but I can't stand the dishonesty. For instance, if I buy her a ring...she'll insist that "Parker gave it to me." I will say, "Now, Brooklyn, you know that is not true. Daddy and I bought you that ring and just gave it to you today." To which she will reply, "Nuh-uh, Parker gave it to me" and we will go back and forth and back and forth until I finally give up and just walk away. I can't figure out where to draw the line between downright lying and just using her imagination. I mean...she obviously KNOWS that I know the truth since I bought the ring...but yet no matter how much I say, I CANNOT get her to admit the truth. I will tell her that God is listening and that He knows the truth. I will tell her that the devil is the father of lies and that we don't lie in our home. I will tell her the story about the boy who cried wolf and how when it really mattered, no one believed him because he had been deceitful too many times. We will hold hands and pray and I will make her look into my eyes...and she will STILL keep to her story that Parker gave it to her...or whatever the issue may be at the moment. ERGH!!!
When I "give up" or walk away from it..I feel like I am admitting defeat or that I am giving her the impression that she's won me over...but really, I end up thinking to myself, "WHY am I standing here arguing with a 6 year old about something that is complete nonsense?" so I just say forget it and leave the scene. It wouldn't be a big deal if this happened occasionally, but here in the past week or so...this happens at least SEVERAL times a day. It's exhausting always arguing with her. There are times too...that I really don't know if she's telling the truth or not. I can't stand to discipline her for lying if by chance she is actually telling the truth...but how do I know? I've even explained to her that because she is doing this..I never know when she's telling the truth anymore which is making me be a lot more suspicious of everything she says now. But she doesn't care. I know she probably likes all the attention she is getting from this, but I can't just completely ignore it. (can I? ) I guess my big struggle with this is that I don't want to let her get away with lying...but at the same time... I don't want to squash her playful imagination either. Every day she comes home from school with these "big" stories. Very hard to believe stories about things that happened at recess or things that certain little kids said to her. I find myself secretly rolling my eyes and letting my mind drift off to other things because I know she is just rambling on, making up the whole thing...and these stories will last as long as I will let her keep talking. On and on and on. (oh Lord, help me!)
Anyway, what do you guys think? Is she really lying or is she just being creative and using her imagination?

2 comments:

Amos said...

Well, this may "sound" harsh, but you could try washing her mouth out with soap. I have to have Ben do that with the boys, but it is very effective. He just squirts some liquid soap in their mouth and makes them close it, and then immediately spit it out. All saying to them, you mouth must be dirty since it can only tell lies so we need to clean it. We have only had to do it 2 or 3 times total and it pretty much knocked that out.

I wouldn't give her the chance to argue with you either. That is the hard part about being the parent. You just have to lay the consequence down and follow through. It is exhausting!

Amy said...

Uh oh! Sorry, Jen...wish I could help with this one. I've had the same problem with the kids in my class, so I'd love to hear what people have to say about it. Hang in there!craft