Reading

Ahhh…the good ol' days – the time long ago when my children believed what I said as bible and fell for all the silly diversions that I threw their way. No more, and the reason for this is because we have a little reader in the house. When I first discovered my son was reading, I was so proud and excited to embrace this new chapter in his life. I threw books at him every chance I could. If it was time for his little sister's bedtime story, then he was the one to read it. And let me tell you, as the months passed, my little 4 year old became quite a proficient reader. Never did I see the downside of this UNTIL…
One day we drove passed a store that sells toys (ahem – JUNK) that of course, my kids would love to live inside. “Mom, can we go in there?” came the cries from the back of the car. “Oh, I'm sorry sweeties but it's closed,” I pleasantly replied. “Oh no, it's not,” Michael stated. “Look, the sign says ‘Open.'” Thinking fast, I said, “I think they forgot to turn it over to Closed.”

“No Mom,” Michael continued. “It says right there, ‘Store hours, Monday until 7pm.'”

On another occasion when Michael was desperately trying to put together a new toy, and was asking for help, I told him that we needed to wait for his dad because I didn't know how to do it. A few minutes later, my son came over with a big smile on his face. “Problem solved,” he said. “Look what I found: the instructions.”

In addition to this super-annoying side effect, my 3-year-old has subsequently lost all faith in what I say and relies on her brother for answers. “What that say Michael?” she questions as she watches TV, and I cringe at the thought of watching another Dora episode. “Dora is next,” Michael replies. How sweet!

The Kallinikos household will never be the same again. Now it's going to take twice the creativity to lie to my children. As if parenting wasn't hard enough.