My Child Just Lied To Me

It was going to happen. No stopping it. Right of passage. We ALL did it. Some of us have blocked it out or simply refuse to admit it or have forgotten it. Yet we all did it. Mine did it Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 4:51 pm! She looked me in the face, eye to eye, and LIED to me!

As all parents do, I love my daughter more than life itself. I'm not a idiot, I knew this day was coming. Right of passage. Yet I was still shocked. Not by the LIE, but how pathetic it was. I wanted to hold her and tell her "it's OK" or " you should re-think this , and come and talk to me in 15 minutes, because this is really bad".

She's a preteen, just like her friends. All good kids. Halloween is coming, she feels this is the PIVOTAL moment in her life. First time Halloween with-out parents walking around with them. On their own.

Her 4 friends and my daughter had devised the perfect plan. Get dressed at one house, have sleep over at our house, tell everyone's parents I agreed to let them stay out until 10pm, because I'm in the Safety Business, so it will all be fine, because I would have told them how to be safe.

According to my daughter, all parents agreed! In fact ,all thought it was a "great" idea! Of course, my wife and I thought to ourselves, " who answers their door after 9pm", and what could these 5 girls be doing from 9pm to 10pm"?

Time to do the un-thinkable. Call the other parents. Found out TP and eggs had started to disappear from all of our houses, all parents thought 8:30 was the dead-line, and no one had heard of a 10pm curfew. After a few giggles with my wife and the other parents, I asked my daughter " how could you be so mistaken about the rules for the other kids"? She looked me in the eye and replied " well Dad, I'm shocked, they must have lied to me, but we can still have the party right?"

Yes, she can have the party! Her grades are fantastic, her friends grades are fantastic! They have all learned a lesson. The lesson they learned can either be the truth is easy, or become better liar's. I'm hoping for the best.

I love her more than life. What else can I do other than

There are some fantastic "Halloween" Safety Tips in our Editorial Listings section. Please take the time to look them over to make this a safe and happy Halloween.

This is also FIRE PREVENTION MONTH. Are you prepared?

Steven