It's not exactly lying...

It's about credibility. Now that Jasmine is an avid communicator, we routinely have conversations with her that involve her feedback. For example, Jasmine is in school 2 days a week. Mama drops her off and Baba picks her up. This creates a situation where the only way we know what happened at school today is if she tells us. So in typical parent-fashion, we begin the process of inquiring about her day--and yes, I know this will go on long into adolescence, trying to find out about my daughter's life away from home.

Jasmine, did you have a good day at school?

Yah.

Who did you play with ?

Max. (it's always Max, whether he's there or not)

Did you play with anyone else?

Emmy.

Emmy? or Abby? or Emily? or Amy? Which one?

Emmy.

Emmy? Your special friend, Emmy?

Yah.

Ok, so when Emmy's mom called tonight to set up a playdate, it turns out that their entire family has been out of town for a week. No Emmy at school, for the whole week. Now this happens routinely with all kinds of things, from what she ate for lunch to whether or not she earned her m and m's during the day. We've figured out, finally, that in order to get the truth, we must rely on each other to verify the accuracy of what we're being told.

And I imagine, in my professional opinion, that the story-telling will get more elaborate as the years go on and we will just get a little more savvy.