Yesterday was a special day for me, I got to be the parent helper at preschool. I thought it was wonderful to be able to sit in with all these three and four year old kids, they really are amazing little creatures. I was eager to see how the kids interacted with each other, and also how they interacted with the grownups in charge.
Last Friday, one of the little girls had some birthday invites to hand out. My first thought was "Uh oh.". I knew what was coming. When I picked Lochlyn up from school that day, she was saying "Mom, Mom, it's Lexie's birthday party tomorrow and I want to go!", but sure enough, Lochlyn did not get an invite. Not surprising, because I wasn't even sure which kid was Lexie. Here comes the talk about not being able to invite all your friends to parties, and how most kids have to choose just a few kids to come. It seemed to go ok, I think she understood. She already picked which 5 kids could come to her next party, even though her birthday is in September.
Fast-forward to yesterday. The kids all sat down for circle time, and Ms. P asked if any of the kids had done anything special over the weekend. A whole bunch of little hands shot up, wanting to tell their exciting stories. The first little girl told of how she went to Lexie's party, and she got to be the green musketeer, and they had fun, and it was a gymnastics party.
Lochlyn's turn: "I went to Lexie's party too, and I got to be a pink musketeer, and it was fun!"
Here's where I sit with a very puzzled look on my face, as we most certainly did NOT go to that party. Ms. P asks what kind of cake it was and was it good, and Lochlyn then looked up at me, and seeing the look on my face she said "Oh, I made a mistake. I didn't go to Lexie's party.". Then Ms. P moved on to another child.
I have not addressed it. I am not sure if it needs addressing. I don't know, does this fall into the category of lying? Or is it harmless fantasy, just her way of including herself into something that some of her "best" friends got to take part in? What do you think, Moms, what would you do?
3 comments:
At this point, I'd probably let it go. I think she realized she said something that wasn't truthful. Hope you had fun in her class otherwise!
It's technically an untruth, but to kids this age, imagination and real life flow into each other so much, they sometimes don't even realize what's real and what not. She really wanted to be there, so she imagined it. It seemed real for her when she said it, she wasn't meaning to be deceitful. That's where parents and other caregivers come in :-)
I agree w/Tara and Wilma. She wasn't trying to lie in the true sense of the word. She was just trying to join in on what the others were talking about. You can bring it up just to let her know it's not okay to tell fibs so that others can trust what she's saying is true.
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