Lately at Benji’s school, something’s been happening that I’m not sure what to do about. I don’t want to get into too many specifics, but the short story is that this mom has repeatedly told her kid something untrue in front of other kids, including mine, in order to keep her kid from doing something.
Let’s say, hypothetically, that she told her kid not to yell in the hallways because it would make other people go deaf. She’s doing this to curtail an unwanted behavior her kid engages in (one that I actually think it’s that bad in the first place), but it seems manipulative and, besides, it’s simply not true. I avoid lying as much as I can, although I’m as guilty of lying to my kid as any parent. But I’m not going to lie when a perfectly good truth exists and would work just as well.