Now I am not big on lying. I am more the honest type of person: I will tell you no when it’s no, and won’t beat around the bush. However being a mom has made me spread some white lies. It’s a bit of an embarrassing thing to admit, but I have lied sometimes to my child. I also admit that when I lied, I blamed other people. When I have a big cleanup in the house and bring toys and teddy bears to Roundabout, I have told my daughter a few times that the ayi must have thrown them away by accident. Not very nice or honest, but my daughter doesn’t speak Chinese so she has no way of asking the ayi. Not a proud mommy moment.
This Sunday, I was thrown for a loop as I told my daughter another white lie. We were at Ramo, our favorite hangout for kid-friendly pizza. My daughter played and had lunch; she did not eat all her pizza, and I thought she was done. So I ate her last piece. Little did I know that she would come back looking for her last slice. So I lied and told her that the fuwuyuan (waiter) had taken it. She still speaks no Chinese, so she couldn’t ask him. But a bit later the waiter came with a whole new freshly cooked Margherita pizza that we did not order, so we sent it back.
But then the owner came with the pizza, and she told me how Laila came to her and had told her that the fuwuyuan had taken her pizza, and asked if she could have it back. I do have to applaud my daughter for stepping over to the boss to complain about the pizza thief. But it was a bit embarrassing. Of course, I told the owner of the restaurant I lied to my child. I won’t lie, this will be most likely the last time I do that. Honest.
1 Comment
Blaming ayi and the fuwuyan – what a great example for your kids. Yes, let’s make it a cute story about pizza, not about your privilege and entitlement.