Do As I Say...

...Not As I Do

A few weeks ago, I was trying to explain a delicate situation to Hallie that not everyone needed to know about. I said, "We're not going to lie about it..." and she interrupted with "We're just not going to tell the whole truth." I remember thinking at the time that I should probably be concerned that my nine year old has this concept figured out.

And my concerns were well-founded. This week when Hallie "cleaned" her room, she came downstairs and asked if I could take her to Wal-Mart because she found a gift card. I told her that we needed to call and check the balance because we might have already used it, but not gotten rid of the card. She said, "Ok, but it was still in an envelope, so I don't think we've spent it yet." In the back of my mind, I recalled someone giving the girls Wal-Mart gift cards for Christmas so I said, "Is it from *Our Really Nice Friend*?" And she said, "Yes."

So we make a special trip to the superstore, spend an hour in the toy section and finally settle on a purchase.

At dinner, Hallie was chattering on and on (and on) about her new toy, when HannahKate asked me, "Did you buy that for her?" Hallie interrupted, (do you see a pattern here?) "No, I found a gift card so I bought it myself." Hannah then asked, "Where did you find the gift card?" I was about to scold Hannah for being so hateful when I saw "the look" on Hallie's face. Then she said, "You know that red basket that you said I could have whatever I wanted..."

Evidently, HannahKate had put out a basket of miscellaneous stuff she was getting rid of and told Hallie she could have whatever she wanted out of it. But Hannah neglected to thoroughly inspect the contents and Hallie pounced on the opportunity. Yes, yes she did. She didn't lie about where the card came from, she just didn't tell the whole truth (which included the part about the card being inside an envelope with Hannah's name on it).

Man, raising kids is like walking a tightrope...without a net.