And the Lies Begin

We are all born with sinful nature, but I did not expect to see that in my daughter so soon. We made a foam ornament together at a church event, Mia took it off the tree and was playing with it. No big deal, the tree was not off limits to her. She managed to break the arms glued onto the Polar Bear. Again, no big deal. She did not mean to break it.

But I casually asked her, "Mia did you break the ornament?" This is the rest of the conversation.

Mia: No, no, no
Mama: Are you sure? Did you break the bear?
Mia: Kona break it
Mama: No, Kona did not break it
Mia: Papa break it
Mama: No, Papa did not break it. Mia broke it!
Mia: Xiong Xiong break it?
Mama: No, Mia! It's okay that you broke it, just tell me.

Then we were done and she was off to something else.

I kept thinking back to how she learned to lie. I believe it was because a couple of days prior to the aforementioned incident, I got mad at her for throwing down her water bottle and breaking the cover of the spout. She threw the bottle down because she was mad and did not want to get into the car. But I focused on the result: the broken bottle, not her action of throwing the bottle. I told her she broke it and that she was not being good. She kept saying through tears "Mama xiu" then moving to English, "Mama fig it" (Mama fix it). So thats how she learned that Mama is not happy when she breaks things.

The other thing Mia has been doing that irks me is she tells me, "Mama Bye!" and she does not mean bye in the traditional sense. She says this emphatically when I tell her to do something she does not want to do, so basically, she wants me to disappear so that she can continue on her merry way. But as with typical toddlers, if I really leave, she will say, "More mama." But those words to not make me feel better. I wish she would always want me around, but these are pointless desires as she grows older. I need to come to terms teaching her how to be a positive member of this world so that she can leave me to participate in it.