Tell The Truth – Lies of a 4 Year Old

I’m starting to believe I may be raising a pathological liar. She seems physically unable to tell the truth. This is all said in sarcasm of course, and yet it’s not. I can’t be the only one that feels this way about their child? It seems no matter what we do, this will be our fate.  Maybe it’s part of the second child syndrome? This girl likes to keep us on our toes.

Let me take you through our last 24-hours.

Last night, a good hour after bedtime, Melia (4) came out into the living room. She said, “I just want one more hug mom.” Who can resist that? Even an hour after bedtime…for the second time. Right?! As she got close to me, I could smell it. She was into the hydrocortisone cream. This was not the first time.

Me: “Were you into the itch cream again?”

Melia: “No.” She looked like she had been caught and tried to avoid eye contact.

Me: “Yes you were. I can smell it on you.” I hugged her trying not to breathe in her medicine cabinet smell.

Melia: “No, I wasn’t. You are just smelling something else.”

Me: “Stay out of the cream!” Off she went back to bed.

Let’s fast forward to my bed time. Guess what I find on the bedside table?! Her comb, completely covered in the cream. It’s also smeared all over the table. The tube was almost full. Now, not so much. The entire room smells of it. That takes a lot of effort given the smell is not overly strong. Busted!

We will fast forward again. This time let’s visit our morning routine. We are getting ready for school.

Me: “Melia, did you brush your teeth yet?”

Melia: “Yes.”

Me: Knowing this is likely not the case. “Are you sure?”

Melia: “Yes.”

Me: “Where is your toothbrush?”

Melia: “I don’t remember.”

Let’s just say her toothbrush was still sitting on the counter. Completely dry. Busted! This isn’t the first time. I’m surprised she hasn’t caught onto the “let me see if your toothbrush is wet” trick yet. I fear the day that happens because it will mean I have to pick up my game to keep up with her.

I’d like to say the lies ended here, but they didn’t. Let’s fast forward to part of our dinner table conversation.

Melia: “We had apples today for our snack at school.”

Me: “Oh yeah?”

Melia: “Yes. Our teachers made us eat the stems.”

Me: “What?! I’m sure you didn’t eat the stems.”

Melia: “Yes, we did. It really hurt my throat on the way down.”

Yesterday (and a day last week) she told me she was hungry after school because she didn’t like what they had for a snack. She tried to convince me they had broccoli and glue (you know, to dip it in). We argued over whether or not the school would serve glue. I told her it had to be something else (ranch, blue cheese, some sort of dip). She swore to me it was glue.

They actually had goldfish crackers today and fruit loops yesterday.

This girl is crazy! What I will say is she shows great dedication. Rarely will she stray from her story. Often she will embellish it while looking you directly in the eye. The skill she shows at a young age is impressive…though I’m not sure that’s a word I should use. More like scary.

When Cameron was here, he attempted to play the role of her moral compass. That was not an easy job. Almost every conversation they had you could hear him saying to her, “Tell the truth.” When she was embellishing her story, he would give us a look and begin to correct her. We typically had to step in and remind him he wasn’t the parent. It was at least nice knowing someone was around trying to lead her down the right path.

Now, we are fighting this battle alone. At the age of 4, her lies are pretty innocent. Sometimes funny. Many times frustrating. Though it’s typically very easy to tell when she does not tell the truth. I worry about her teenage years. The thought sends shivers down my spine.

We talk about the importance of telling the truth. We call her out when she is caught. If a line is crossed, she is punished appropriately. None of this has made an impact yet. Hoping this will change with time.

Tell me I’m not alone! Who else is raising a pathological liar?

4 Comments on “Tell The Truth – Lies of a 4 Year Old”

  1. Your brother-in-law was pretty good at it when he was young.He once told the school that we did not have money to give him for lunch this went on for about a month then i found out he was saving his lunch money to buy me something for mothers day ok maybe that one is not the same but he was real good at stretching the truth to fit his needs.

    1. So you’re verifying that her bad traits are from her dad’s side. 😉 That’s always our joke. When they are bad…they are his kids. Their bad traits must be from his side. Haha.

  2. Katelyn (age 6) is good at telling “stories.” Although I will admit… not as good as Melia. But Katelyn has super power type of iron-will. Unlike any I have seen before. So I am with you in this!

    1. You may not want them to hang out at school then…it may rub off. Haha! Though, it sounds like they are equal on the iron-will piece.

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