"You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings." Pearl S. Buck
Yesterday I encountered an incident with Mylah that just pulled at every heart string I have in my body. My little girl lied to me. I know this is normal behavior for children to tell some fibs - white lies. Hey, I was an amazing story teller growing up and my daughter has my imagination to tell 'interesting stories' but I typically call her on them and try to get her to distinguish between reality and her 'story telling'; however, yesterday Mylah didn't tell a tall tell.
She plain out lied. Straight faced and didn't flinch about it at all. I was perplexed and to be totally honest, I found it really hard to comprehend. My daughter, who has the ability to speak truth in some of the most awkward moments, looked me straight in the face and lied. It broke my heart and I didn't know what to do to punish her. I wanted to cry. She instantly knew that it was wrong and I did share with her my feelings about how bad it hurt to have her lie to me. I could tell that hurt her too, which wasn't what I wanted to do. I hate seeing my little princess cry. I hate having to punish her but I know that it's part of being a parent.
The parenting part that really sucks is knowing that if I don't punish her, she won't learn from this moment. So if I don't punish Mylah and let this one time go by like it was nothing. She will in turn think that lying is okay, which then means other things could be considered norms when in fact, they are not. Yesterday when I had her lick the bar of soap, and watched her face turn into a crazy array of different 'icky faces'. I couldn't help but wonder, was this enough. Did she learn or will I have to do this again? Sometimes I wish that God handed you a manual with each child.
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