I am not a liar and I do not appreciate being made to look like one. I based my decision to allow my daughter to attend an after Christmas party on lies. However, at the time I made the decision I did not know they were lies. I found out the night before the party that she had lied and it was too late for her to call them. Therefore, I decided to take her to the party and let her explain in person why she was unable to stay. I asked her to preplan what she was going to say and then I let her practice on me. I told her not to worry about messing up because I would be standing right beside her if she needed any help.

When the invitation was made a few weeks ago, I explained that she was significantly behind on schoolwork and her attendance at the party was contingent on her performance. She had been lying to me everyday for a month saying that her schoolwork was done when it was not. So, she had quite a bit of work to make up over holiday break. She had also created another trust issue between us by lying everyday. As the week passed, she seemed to be working diligently on catching up. One morning in particular I had gone off to work and when I returned, she informed me that she had caught up all of her work on the computer.

I know, with her history of lying I should have confirmed the information. Call me gullible or an eternal optimist but I believed her. When her aunt called to check on her attendance, I praised her efforts and confirmed that she would attend.

Then I checked her work. She had turned it in all right, but they were all blanks. She had the audacity to tell me she was all caught up when she had turned in blanks. She is only ten. I can’t wait until she is a teenager.

Photo Credit Julia Fuller 2007