A couple of weeks ago, my sister asked our dad to watch the kids so she could go to dinner with her husband. He has never watched the kids. My sister has been too nervous to leave them alone with him. Personally, I would not leave my kids with him, but that's me. She spends a lot of time with him, so, since no one else could/would do it, she asked him.
They were watching a movie and suddenly my niece pauses the movie and says, "grandpa, this is the time of night when we give the cat her can of tuna."
What? They don't ever give the cat table food. They might let her eat a piece of tune that fell or lick the can when it is empty, but they have never given her an entire can. She knows this.
My dad, gullible as he is, follows her to the kitchen, lets her get out a can and opens it for the cat. The cat ate a little out of the can and now they have wasted a can of food.
Then she says, "when aunt Kelly watched us last weekend, she made us popcorn while we watched the movie. Can you make us popcorn too?"
That one was true, but I can just feel her testing the waters with him more and more.
So he makes them popcorn.
A little while later, she says, "grandpa, this is the time of night when we get to have a pop-tart."
He obliges, of course.
When I was there the weekend before watching them for my sister's birthday dinner, she told me that they couldn't have pop-tarts at night because they are pure sugar and you just can't have sugar.
The kids know they cannot get away with anything with mommy, daddy, grandma or me. The rest, would believe anything they say.
She got in trouble when my sister and brother-in-law got home.
Sunday, she was playing at the neighbors and her dad was there hanging out with that dad.
My niece comes home for something and my sister tells her they can only play over there for about 10 more minutes because dinner would be ready then.
My niece goes back over and does not tell her dad this. When the neighbors offer them ice cream, my brother-in-law says I don't know when my wife will have dinner ready, so I don't see why not. Instead of saying, dad, mom said dinner will be ready in 10 minutes, she grins and eats the ice cream.
Needless to say, she went to bed early that night.
She's 7. Is it normal to test the boundaries of truth at that age? As far as I know these are the first times she has intentionally conned someone.
10 comments:
Seven may be a little early, but it sounds like a phase. My boys were con artists for awhile, then they became shake down artists (we'll be really good if we get this or that.) I try to nip each phase in the bud, because I don't want them to be rewarded for fibbing or bad behavior. Their latest phase is to try a logical argument. It very funny to hear their version of why the absolutely must get whatever it is that they want at the time. You'll get a kick out of that stage when your niece gets to it.
She sounds like an extremely resourceful little thinker. Mom best keep both sets of eyes on her :) (front & Back)
Girls do tend to be a bit wittier than boys at an earlier age. So she is quite normal in her testing waters.
Children never fail to amaze me and with my four I learned very early in life to expect anything :)
Seven's EARLY? My daughter started at four and my son, I think, has always done so.
It's not only normal, it's part of the job of being a kid.
I agree with Lola - it's part of the job description
This is definitely normal behavior. She may be a bit forgetful about some things, such as when dinner will be ready. Getting away with things with adults that aren't in the know - yeah, that's normal, too.
My 4 year old does these things. She'll ask one parent first, and the other if she doesn't get the answer she wants. Fortunately though, her father and I are on the same team and know her games.
It seems like kids grow up too quickly these days.
In a word, YES. Oh, and she'll get worse before she gets better. She'll stop probably at about oh, twenty-five or so. :)
It's completely normal, and something that all the adults in your niece's life need to try to stomp out of existence as a united front. When she sees that her word is being verified with that of her parents and that she can't get away with doing things that aren't good for her, then it will calm down (or her tactics will change and the game will start all over again).
Seven is actually a little old to be starting this sort of thing in my experience. My own nieces and nephews started trying similar tactics when they were three or four. It depends on the child, though. One thing's for sure, though: it has nothing to do with parenting styles. Most children do this at some point.
oo girl, that lying is a problem. better get it in check now before it become a big problem later in life.
"young habits turn into old problems"
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