boogers, lies, and car rides

The Mama and The Dada have a pretty intense honesty policy. We are really candid with The Kidling about almost everything.* It typically takes a pretty serious situation to get me to fib, but every once in a while, a moment of weakness overcomes me. Like when I looked in the rearview mirror the other day and saw The Kidling pick her nose and promptly pop the booger into her mouth.

Ick.

I, of course, told her not to eat her boogers, to which she replied, “Boogers are just so yummy, Mom!”

Double ick. So I whipped out the big guns and lied through my teeth, “Well, boogers will make you sick, dear. You can’t eat them.”

And you know what? I didn’t even feel bad about it. Because no one wants to be friends with the girl who eats her boogers.

 ———

* I summarized this honesty policy to a friend like this: “. . . we almost always tell her the truth. The whole truth whenever possible and a big, fat lie if it feels like the right thing in that particular instance.” The perfect guideline, if you ask me.

the moral…

I just tucked The Kidling in. We read, amongst other stories, Henny Penny. I asked what she thought the moral of the story was. I bet you are anticipating something like I expected:

Don’t talk to strangers?

Nope.

Stay with adults you know?

Huh uh.

Instead, she offered this response: “Don’t go with foxy strangers.”

Hmm. I know some folks who would vehemently disagree with that statement, Alice. And yet, I find myself hoping you remember it for a very, very (very) long time.

work ethic

The Kidling is working on arranging cookie cutters in descending order by size. They have to be placed juuuuust so, or they don’t all fit. Obviously, she is frustrated. She just growled and said, “This is hard work!” My brilliant reply?

“If you don’t like doing it, just quit!”

Oops.