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| Shh by Terence Spencer, London 1970 |
I had a realisation, maybe a slightly obvious one but nonetheless I still had one! And these days they are few and far between. I honestly realised something had to change as kids grew older! My question is what do we do when we have to tell them the truth?
The reality is that up until they are 5 if you don't have an answer you can honestly just make it up! Pull it from nowhere make it sound convincing and Bob's your uncle, happy child! Well not after 5 you can't ! They know! They know if you are lying, they know if you only half know the answer and they absolutely know the answer when you don't! Now this realisation came from one little boy a few weeks ago who plainly and frankly told me I was wrong. I had an answer, one I have used forever and he knew I was lying! Little bugger has out smarted me, now what do I do!? I have to fess up and actually come up with the real answer, admit my defeat and deal with this situation.
So in the spirit of this realisation I thought I would compile a list of things I can guarantee we have all said to a child at one point or another. Let's just hope your little ones believe you for longer than mine.
- it's time for bed (bed time is 7 and it’s 6)
- the icecream truck plays a song when it has run out of ice cream
- it's my medicine
- it's my medicine
- it's too cold for that
- it's too hot for that
- we don't have any left
- this shop doesn't sell those
- our house doesn't have that
- we can't do that because (insert silly reason here )
- it's too far away
- another day
- tomorrow
- next week
- it's bad for us
- mummies/nannies/grandparents aren't aloud to do that
- it will make you sick
- the doctor said
- I am calling ....
Happy Monday!
C xo
...H’s weigh in...
Ah yes, the beautiful trusting naive little souls. Their gullibility during these young years is a bonus I often forget to be grateful for; it sure can come in handy ;) I really like to explain most things, but being honest, there are times I just need to avoid tantrums. Other times the real answer is a little grown up or too hard to explain right now or… I really just don’t have the time or patience because - sleep deprivation!
Some of the ones that come to mind are….
- Telling him that my drink (no matter what it really is) has coffee in it so he can't have any..
- "Uh oh - it's Broken!" (The classic)
- Sorry, Mummy can’t open that/lift that/play that game, how about you ask daddy when he gets home.
- Skim reading when you don't have time to read the whole book, (or you’ve already read it 3 times…)
that's when I'm glad my kids can't read yet and correct me!
- Those wonderful ridiculous stories and explanations that are complete nonsense. (Like the time my little guy asked us what that thing was attached to the back of the truck - (It was a box like thing but I can’t even tell you what it was we honestly had no idea!). The hubs said “It’s a pillow for when the truck goes to sleep!”, and apparently that was a very satisfactory answer!
