Honesty and Honestly

Just off the phone with my sister about 10 mins ago. She told me D. (my niece who is in Pri 1) had lied to her yesterday. She asked the mother for $2, saying that the teacher is asking for the amount, but did not say what was the money for. When her mother came back, she found a Hello Kitty book with D.. When asked how much was the book, D. replied that she gave 40 cents to the bookshop aunty and was returned 20 cents. Now, any girl would know that no Hello Kitty item cost 20 cents. So after some asking, sis found out that the girl had lied.

It is such a delicate issue, this lie thing, with young children. So I went to search for some resources for sister, and also made some mental notes on the possibilities of why D. had lied to her. I do not expect perfection from D., we are not perfect ourselves to expect it on a child.

I think one of the things we need to watch ourselves when we are with kids is how we make promises. Sometimes, we tell them we are not getting the thing for them, yet they got it eventually. Then there are times they didn't ask for something, and we gave it to them. Or we'd promise them we will get it for them, but we do not buy the item eventually. I guess they are pretty much confused with all these inability of us to keep the consistency of our talk.

But one thing is for sure. We should provide a comfortable environment for them to be honest, rather than in a hostile environment and be afraid to tell the truth. Which, fortunately, was what my sister did, explaining to her that lying is not good thing to do, and didn't punish her.

My turn will come this Saturday, I plan to bring her out and have a fun aunty-niece time and chat about the issue. Just want to help her to understand that she does not need to lie.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Very very tired today. No inspiration to write anything. Honestly