Monday, January 25, 2010
My eight year old is learning to tell lies and thankfully she is not getting it right... yet!
The unwritten rule is that she must finish the water in her waterbottle and that there should be no water left in the evening. A few weeks back, everyday she was bringing back the bottle just the way she took it in the morning - with all the water intact. I was scolding her about that and she says 'I am finishing all the water and filling it up again at school'! She is at school from 8 to 2:30 and then she is at the day care till I pick her up at around 6:30 or 7. She knows that I can verify with the babysitter so she does not say she fills it up there. So she says she finishes all the water in school and fills it up in school. Without any doubt, I know that this is a lie because there is no way she can finish all that water in school that she needs to fill it up. So I confront her and totally refuse to believe her until she breaks down and confesses.
She is yet to figure out that she can just throw the water out and bring the bottle back empty and I wouldn't know!
The other day she had a math test. We did major preparation and she solved lot of problems to learn division of 3 digit numbers. We tried all combinations - where 0 comes in the beginning of the quotient, where 0 comes in the middle of the quotient etc.
So after the test, in the evening, I ask her how it went. She says it was easy. And then she slowly starts explaining. 'Amma, there was this problem that we had to solve. It was like how you taught me where you cannot divide the first digit with the divisor'. She then gives me an example and solves it perfectly. I am proud. Then she says 'But during the test, I was confused. I was not sure how to do it'. So I ask,'Oh..then what did you do?'. She says 'Ma'am helped us.' I was surprised that Ma'am will help during a test and was quite impressed too. Test is not as important as ensuring that the children understand what they are doing. So she says, 'Not the same problem. But Ma'am solves a similar problem on the board and we have to do this one in the same way'. I am even more impressed.
And then she does it.
She says, 'But you know what I did? When I did the problem after Ma'am showed us how to do, I also wrote it down in my paper in Ma'am's handwriting. I copied the handwriting also. So you might think Ma'am wrote it but actually it was me!'
I literally burst into laughter at that. I still haven't fully figured out the reason for that lie. I'll probably know when I get the worksheet. But I promptly let her know that I know that it is a lie. I told her that it is okay if she made a mistake in her worksheet and that I will not scold her for that. She can tell me the truth. Then with an embarassed grin, she admitted that what she said was not true. I did not pursue the topic and decided to wait till I get the worksheet to figure it out!
I am enjoying the whole phase... I hope the innocence is never lost completely!
