Telling Liars

When the kids were little and someone was lying, they'd say that they were "telling liars".

Well yesterday was a hectic day. I was running late getting home from work. Libby had to be picked up at basketball practice at 5pm, and the little girls had to be picked up from after school care. Then the little girls had basketball practice at 6:30pm, and the big kids had their Christmas concert at 7pm. So I was trying to get them fed and dressed appropriately and the phone rang.

It was Madolyn's teacher...you know Madi...the one who NEVER gets in trouble. And here is how the conversation went.

"Mrs Pool, I have a concern about Madolyn. The first thing I need to know is Have you lost any family members recently?"

"Ummm...No."

"Madi didn't have a grandmother who died last week?"

"Ummmm....No"

"Well she came into school before Thanksgiving and she was just crying so hysterically. She told a teacher in the lunch room that her Grandmother had been killed that morning. They asked her how her grandmother died and Madi said that a tree had fallen on her car and crushed her.

"ohhhh...my."

"So, that's not true?"

"Ummmmm....no."

She said that Madi had told a whole bunch of adults at school about it, and she'd even asked if she could tell her class about it at sharing time. The teacher told me that she was going to send me a sympathy card!!!

Then she says "Mrs Pool...does Madi have a pet snake?"

"Ummmm....no."

"Well she told us this week that her pet snake had bit her on the arm, and she showed me a red spot. I asked her if her parents were there when it happened and she told me that her Dad was there, but he didn't say anything. And again she told about this during sharing time."

Finally Madi got a little wild with it and told them that she had 10 puppies at home and one of them got in the neighbors yard.

The teacher confronted Madi and asked her if she was lying. She said Madi just looked her right in the eye with a blank look and said she wasn't. She finally got her to admit she was lying and made her tell the class that she had told them lies.

I was TOTALLY mortified. The longer we talked the more I wanted to slide under the desk!!!

We asked Madi why on earth she'd told such big whoppers. She didn't have a good answer. She cried such big crocadile tears the whole time we were talking to her. Bob spanked her just like he does the big kids. Hopefully we won't have any future problems. Maybe she'll grow up to be an actress!!!