Thing to Do #65: Take Alli to church (or, The Day My Daughter Learned How to Lie)

You may remember a couple of years ago David and I checked out the local Unitarian Church to see if it was one we'd like to attend, especially after we had a child. Well, a year ago next month, we decided to take Allison to church for the first time. And it was the day when my ordinarily honest little angel decided to try lying. Apparently, the Sunday school teacher was the perfect guinea pig for her little experiment.

Lie #1: The teacher asked the children what the nicest thing was that happened to them all day. One little girl shared that her parents took her out to breakfast at a restaurant. Allison, who up to that point had been quiet and pretending to be shy, blurted out that she also had gone out to a restaurant with her parents that morning. Nope. We made blueberry pancakes at home. But I just marked this tall tale up to copy cat syndrome.

Lie #2: I went back up to hear the rest of the service as all the children were settling down at a table to draw a picture of the nicest thing that had happened to them all day. I was looking forward to seeing what Allison had drawn. When I returned to the classroom, I discovered her paper was blank. When I asked her why, she said because the teacher would not give her a marker. Or a crayon. Or even a pencil. What a mean teacher.

Lie #3: The teacher then came up to me and said: "So Allison tells me you're going to her Nonna's birthday party today." The confused look on my face made her follow up with: "So I guess this is news to you?" Yes, considering my mother's birthday is in December, and this was July.

Since then, we've tried taking her back a few times. But it hasn't proven to be a very fruitful experience for her or us. I guess we're just not church-goin folk. At least I can check it off the list as having tried!